Shadows in the Light
by Pretztailfan95
Summary: What was supposed to be a merry Christmas for Conan turns out to be a nightmare when he gets attacked by a mysterious creature on the way home. He recieves a strange mark that holds a horrible secret not even he knows of! Fixed some parts...
1. Merry Christmas! See you in Hell

Shadows in the Light

_Neither Mangaluva nor I own DC babble babble babble. So sue us. :P_

_**Mangaluva: **__I'm working on this as a joint fic with Pretztailfan95! It's her idea originally, so she's done the first chapter and then we're going to alternate. It's on both of our profiles, and I advise you to go read all of her other fics as well- they're sweet, they're funny, and they're dreadfully underappreciated. And as long as she thinks that I'm the only one reading Black Cat Conan or I'll Always Be There For You, She will feel free to use the update frequencies as a means to inflict terror and torture on me. T_T_

_**Pretztailfan95: **__I will? Anywho, usually I put an author's note at the bottom, but to avoid any confusion just in case you're the kind who doesn't like to read the bottom after the fic, I'm posting this up on top! So now you HAVE to read it in order to get to the story~ Enjoy!! :D_

**Merry Christmas (See you in Hell)**

It was Christmas Eve. Conan was walking home from Christmas shopping. This was the only time of year besides Rachel's birthday where Conan would go shopping by his own will. He was trying his best to find the perfect gift for Rachel. After all, he did have a crush on her, he just wouldn't admit it.

"It sure got dark out early…" Conan thought out loud. The sky was dark and it was only 6:00 in the afternoon. The sun should have been starting to set by now, but instead it was pitch black out. Something was wrong, he could feel it. "I better hurry home then. But first I should drop these presents at my house." He was nearing Beika Street, so it was worth the walk.

Conan sighed. How he wished he could spend the Christmas with Rachel as Jimmy instead of as Conan. But he didn't know how long the next antidote would last, and he wasn't willing to take any chances. If the Syndicate found out who he really was…well, he didn't want to think about it.

Instead, he began thinking about what he was going to do on Christmas Day. Knowing Rachel, she would probably try to get Richard and Eva back together again in a lame attempt to keep it secret. Usually, her "acting" just made it more obvious that she was the one who set them up. Conan wished she'd just give up. It'd never work anyways.

Conan noticed something moving out of the corner of his eye. _What was that?_ Conan couldn't ignore it, even though it might have just been a cat. He followed it to where he thought he saw it, but came to a dead end. _What the heck!? I could've sworn it went this way!_

"**Hello, little boy."** Startled, Conan turned around to see nothing there.

"W-who's there?" Conan began to grow nervous. The shadow grew larger into the form of a dragon, startling him even more.

"**That is none of your concern. Tell me, what holiday is it now?"** The dragon-like creature asked.

Now Conan wasn't sure whether or not he was hallucinating, but the appearance of this creature was menacing enough that he answered. "It's Christmas Eve."

The creature gave a smile that Conan did _not_ like. Just before it lunged at him, it gave one final reply:

"**Merry Christmas! (See you in Hell!)"**

***

When Conan came to, he was at the hospital. He noticed Rachel sitting right next to him. She looked like she hadn't even had any sleep! "Some Christmas."

Rachel looked up. She immediately hugged Conan. "Thank goodness! We thought you were dead!"

Conan looked confused. Then he noticed the bandages on his right arm. "What happened?"

"We hoped you could tell us that…" Rachel was more worried now.

"But…I don't really remember…" Conan looked hesitant.

"By the way…were you out Christmas shopping?" Rachel held up the bag Conan had, causing him to panic.

"Ah! Don't look in it!!" He grabbed the bag away and looked inside, checking to see that everything was still there. He sighed with relief when he found everything in tact.

"Who was that present for, anyways?" Rachel pressed with a sly smile. Conan shrunk back in embarrassment. Fortunately for him, the news was on.

"…A strange creature has been spotted in the city. No one knows what it is or where it came from, but we do know it's been attacking civilians…" The news continued on, showing a picture of the same creature that Conan had seen the previous night. He gasped.

"That's it!" He pointed to the screen. "Now I remember! That thing attacked me last night!"

"You're lucky it didn't kill you!" Conan looked confused.

"That thing has not only been attacking people, but killing them too! A few people survived the attacks, but they're either badly wounded or have gone insane."

Conan shuddered. "That thing spoke to me…either that or I was hallucinating." He looked annoyed. "What kind of holiday greeting was that anyways!?"

"What did it say?" Rachel was curious.

"Merry Christmas. (See you in Hell!)" Conan failed to imitate the creature's voice, but did accomplish the hidden message in the greeting. Rachel fell over.

"Why would it say that!?"

"I have no idea at all. I'm not even sure that I really heard it." Conan shrugged. His arm throbbed with pain. "Oww…" He grabbed it, not that it would have done any good besides stopping the blood flow in his arm.

"Are you okay?"

"Besides the fact that my arm hurts like heck, yeah, I'm fine."

Rachel was taken aback by the level of sarcasm in that. Conan sighed.

"Sorry…" He still clutched his arm, which was beginning to feel better. _How come I'm the only one who can't use sarcasm like that?_ He felt annoyed by that.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"I should be… Wait, how is the TV on anyways?"

"We're far from the sensors."

"Again?"

"Huh?"

"Oh…umm…never mind." Conan grew worried. "What if that…thing…comes back?"

"I don't know, Conan…" Rachel sounded unsure herself.

"This reminds me of those shows with the aliens that can't be destroyed with human weapons."

"You watch that kind of stuff?"

"No... but Mitch always talks about them."

"Oh, that's right!" Rachel remembered. "George, Mitch, Amy and Anita all came by earlier, but the doctors shooed them away... Amy left a Christmas present for you, though."

"Really?" Conan said, trying to reach for the bag that Rachel was holding, but his arm twinged again. "Owwww..."

"Conan?!" Rachel cried. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." he said, as the pain went as fast as it came. "I'm... just going to try not to use this arm much..." he reached out his other hand for the bag. Rachel handed it over, still looking worriedly at his arm.

"A magnifying glass?" Conan said, holding up the tool in question. "What's this about?"

"Read the card, silly," Rachel said. Conan did.

_Merry Christmas, Conan!_

_Since we're detectives, we need all of the professional stuff, right? We already have notebooks and badges, but we realized that we don't have magnifying glasses! After all, you always see them used in the detective novels and manga and stuff._

_We bought these from a lady who said that they were a special charm. Maybe they'll be good luck for our investigations!_

_AmyMitchGeorgeAnita _

"Ohh, I see..." Conan said, turning the magnifying glass over. He set it down on the bed. "I need to go thank them when I get out... did the doctors say when that would be?"

"No..." Rachel said with a frown. Then she perked up. "But it might be soon, since you're awake and seem all right..."

"Don't worry, I feel just fine!" Conan insisted, waving his arm energetically to prove it. He knocked into the magnifying glass, sending it smack into his other arm. "Owwww!"

"It's your own fault, silly!" Rachel chided, reaching over to pick up the magnifying glass before he managed to hurt himself again. As she picked it up, however, her smile faded as she stared at the glass.

"Rachel?" Conan said, worried by her sudden expression of... horror?

"Oh... Conan, your arm..." she said, shocked.

"What?" Conan looked at his arm. He couldn't _see_ anything out of the ordinary...

"Look at it through the magnifying glass..." Rachel said, her voice trembling. Suddenly fearful, Conan reached out, taking the magnifying glass, and raising it to his eye.


	2. A Headache from Hell

Shadows in the Light

* * *

_**Mangaluva: **__Nope, neither Pretztailfan95 or I own DC. If there was, there'd be far more Kaito and Heiji. Shinichi wouldn't even get a look in XD_

_**Pretztailfan95: **__Who cares about Kaito!? I just want meh Heiji!_

_Fortunately, only Conan and a few guys were harmed in the making of this fic…so far…_

* * *

**Mangaluva's chapter**

**A Headache from Hell**

"What is _that_?" Conan said, staring at the ugly black mark visible through the magnifying glass. Without the glass, it looked like any normal cut or scar, but through the glass...

"It looks... _evil_," Rachel muttered fearfully. "Conan..."

"It's probably just a joke glass or something," Conan said, dumping the magnifying glass into the bag." Just a prank from the guys. I bet George was behind it. I'm fine, Rachel- it doesn't hurt anymore. It's just a normal injury."

"Are you sure...?" Rachel asked, glancing from the bag to the scar.

"I'm fine, Rachel," Conan insisted. "You look kinda tired... shouldn't you go get some rest before they hospitalize you too?"

"I guess so," Rachel said with a wan smile. "I'll just go check when you can get out, all right?"

"Thanks," Conan called as she left. He stared at his arm, then stared at the magnifying glass.

"_Just a prank, right?_" he thought. "_It's nothing really... I probably just imagined it..._"

"_Like you imagined that creature?_" some voice in his head asked. He shuddered, but he had to admit that seeing that vivid black scar with the red edges had reminded him of that terrifying dragon-like beast, of its heavy, rancid voice...

"_**Merry Christmas! (See you in Hell!)**__"_

"_Did I really imagine that?"_ he wondered, drawing his covers a little tighter around himself, as if they could protect him from the creature like a bogeyman. But the news had shown the creature... whatever it was...

"_But why didn't it kill me?_" he wondered. "_All of its other victims... grown adults, teenagers... they've died or been mutilated or gone insane. So how did a little boy escape with only a scar...?_"

**

_The beast was pleased. _This_ one was strong! So often, its powers had torn apart the pathetically fragile bodies of those it had tried to posses. The few that had survived had been unable to host it. Their weak little minds had collapsed, making the body uncontrollable. Pathetic. The creature had been forced to leave, to hide from the blinding sunlight in the dingy shadows of back alleys and abandoned buildings._

_But this one! The body was small but powerful- it had the strength borne of having survived being torn apart more than once. And the mind! So sharp, so powerful. And the creature, nestled deep inside, could see his memories, and he could see why._

_Yes, this body was a good one. In the daytime, it would protect it, and at night..._

_At night, it would roam free..._

**

Late that night, a man stumbled drunkenly along the road. Through the haze of alcohol, he tried to remember the way home, and vaguely remembered that since it was dark, it was probably late, and so his wife would probably be angry. She always was. Stupid...

In his drunken stupor, he didn't register that he wasn't alone in the otherwise empty street until it was too late. Claws sank into his back. He tried to cry out, but another set was in his throat, killing the noise first before tearing him apart like so much wet tissue paper.

**

"Good morning, Conan!"

"Mmm...?" Conan muttered sleepily, raising his good arm to cover his eyes as Rachel opened the blinds. "Oh... good morning, Rachel..."

"How are you feeling?" she asked, touching his forehead.

"I'm not ill, just a little scratched up," he insisted. "I feel fine, really. How are you?!

"I'm just fine," Rachel said. "The doctors haven't said when you can come home yet, since that's a pretty bad injury to your arm, but I mentioned that I know Dr. Ariade so they might let you go once you're past the major danger period for infection, since he can check up on you..."

"_That guy again,_" Conan fumed, thinking jealously of the young doctor. "_Still, if it gets me out of here... this place is _boring!"

"... but we'll make sure to do that around the middle of the day. There was another attack last night, you know."

"What? An attack?" Conan said in surprise. Rachel nodded, picking up the TV remote and searching for a news channel.

"There, look!" she said, turning up the volume.

"_... was confirmed to be Masayama Kenzo, aged 51, who was coming back from the bar. Blood alcohol levels have not been checked because the body _had_ no blood. Pictures have been refused, but apparently nothing was left except for very literally skin and bones..._"

"Eurgh," Rachel said with a shudder. "That's horrible. I'm just glad that didn't happen to you..."

"Yeah, me too," Conan said, wishing that his years of work as a homicide detective hadn't given him such a graphic imagination. He'd slept fairly peacefully, though he'd had horrible nightmares about black beasts haunting him for most of the night. "_Well, that was a kind of horrible attack... Just glad I only got this scar..._"

He glanced nervously at his arm. It was _throbbing_ this morning, and so was his head, possibly from the nightmares or maybe just from his rude awakening. He hadn't touched the magnifying glass again at all. It was easier to tell himself that it was just a prank if he couldn't actually _see_ the horrible scar.

"Oh! Guess who came to visit you!" Rachel said, a moment before three hyperactive children and one supremely bored-looking one stormed the room.

"Conan! Are you all right?" Amy said tearfully.

"The doctors wouldn't let us see you yesterday!" George complained. "We thought you'd be _maimed _or something!"

"Yeah! Everyone else that was attacked is! Mitch said. "Or they go insane!" he peered closely at Conan. "_You're _not insane, are you?"

"Wibble," Conan said, enjoying the brief looks of terror on the three real children's faces and the unchanged one on Anita's- "_Does _nothing_ rattle her?_"- before saying "I'm joking, I'm fine. My arm's kinda sore, but I'm fine, really."

"You're sure?" Amy said worriedly.

"When are you going to get out?" Mitch asked.

"Not any time soon, unfortunately," Rachel said with a sad smile.

"Awww, but that's boring!" George complained. "We were gonna go play football..."

"I wish I could come with you, really," Conan insisted, "but I think I'd better stay here until the doctors say I can go... thanks for the present, by the way!"

"Yeah! Now we'll look like real detectives!" Amy said happily.

"_Real detectives don't all look like Sherlock Holmes, you know,_" Conan thought grumpily. Instead, he said "It's great. Thanks!"

"Well, let's just go play then," George said. "I need to build up an appetite for lunch!"

"Doesn't take _you_ a lot of work," Mitch snickered. The boys started bickering, Amy between them, as they headed out of the door.

"Anita!" Conan hissed. The blonde girl paused, glancing back at him. He indicated a bag lying just under the head of his bed, trying not to be noticed by Rachel. "Give that to the professor to give to Rachel from me, all right?"

"Can't you give it to her yourself?" Anita murmured, stepping back to pick up the bag.

"From _Jimmy_," he hissed.

"I know, don't worry," she replied, waving her hand dismissively. "Get well soon, Jimmy."

"Thanks, I guess," he muttered as she closed the door behind her.

* * *

_**Pretztailfan95: **__Sheesh, you're not even gonna make your own A/N? Lazy lazy, mangaluva! _ So…anywho, This is mangaluva's chappie. My turn is next~ :D What could this mark possibly mean!? D: No one knows~ Except for me and Mangaluva~! :D_

_Oh, and don't ask why the heck this chapter has a name like it does. Mangaluva came up with it, not me. :P_


	3. Danger Lurks

Shadows in the Light

* * *

_WE DON'T OWN DC. SO SUE US IF YOU WANNA LOSE MONEY!! :P_

_Will Gin please come to the parking lot? Your car is being towed away and we want to laugh at you while you're chasing the tow truck._

* * *

**Danger Lurks**

Ryuu scanned out Conan and his friends. _Heh, look at them! They're worrying so much about the attacks, especially since it's something they know nothing about! That's the thing about this race; they fear anything they don't know about! Well, I'm not sure about this kid…_ He focused on Conan. _This kid, from what I've learned, is the brains of the group. I mean really, he's a whole lot smarter than the other brats for his age, maybe even smarter than the chick there! _He thought, referring to Rachel. He continued his observations.

"Good morning Conan!" Rachel walked into the room.

"Good morning, Rachel," Conan yawned, half awake. This caused Ryuu to chuckle a bit.

_He's not even aware of what that scar means!_ He looked at the scar. _Being from Hell, sure I can see this scar's true form! After all, _I_ was the one who put it there! It's amazing how a _little kid_ could survive my attack when everyone else couldn't…either that or they've gone insane. Since he survived, I might as well have given him that mark. He could prove useful to me anyways… _

_It's pathetic. This kid could be the next genius, yet he fails to acknowledge that there's any supernatural meaning to the scar! Does he even realize how much trouble he's in!? I mean seriously, he's got _me_ running around town killing people like there's no tomorrow! Heh heh, there _isn't_ going to be any tomorrow for a lot of people tonight! It's not like he can do anything to stop me anyways. One: I've hospitalized him. Two: He's a freakin' mortal! What the heck can he do to me!? Note that I didn't say "What the hell?" Death would kill me if I said that! Well, he can't really kill me, but you get the point!_

"So…will I be allowed to do anything today?" Conan asked.

"Probably not." Anita replied for Rachel.

"When did you get here!?" Conan asked, startled by her sudden response.

"Dr. Agasa came to check up on you. I tagged along." Conan looked at Dr. Agasa who was smiling for no apparent reason.

"You visited me yesterday…"

Anita responded with only a smile.

_Apparently, that girl and the kid share a secret of some kind…didn't she call him Jimmy at one point? If I recall correctly his name is Conan, not Jimmy…or is it?_ Ryuu smirked. This was the perfect chance to learn about Conan's secrets. He began to listen more closely to their conversations, hoping to get something useful out of it. Then again what could he possibly gain from mere _mortals_? How could they possibly help him? It's not like he didn't already have a plan.

But Ryuu _loved_ learning people's secrets, even if they didn't benefit him in any way. Especially love interests. Those were his favorite kinds of secrets. Coming from mortals, at least.

***

It was night time. Ryuu's favorite time. This meant he could wreak havoc upon the people living in the city. Of course, Death had given him the list of people whose times of dying were near, and he had to follow the list accordingly, or else he'd be punished. But why now of all times? Sure, Death was on vacation in Hawaii, but why so suddenly? That was one thing Ryuu didn't understand, but he had to obey the boss.

Ryuu licked the blood off his lips. _Delicious!_ In Hell, the residents never really got to taste blood, despite all the stories about the place. That's why each demon treasured whatever blood they got to taste.

Blood stained the ground, and Ryuu enjoyed every moment of it. He got a thrill out of hearing the cries of the soon-to-be-dead, leaving nothing but the bones and using them as toothpicks.

_I can't believe the author is actually writing this! She's usually too much of a wuss to write this stuff!_ He thought, breaking the fourth wall again and offending the author. Normally, the author would try to punish Ryuu, but she was too lazy to do so…I just dissed her too, didn't I?

Getting back on track, the shadow dragon followed the list carefully, making sure he didn't miss anyone due to die, and taking his sweet time picking the bones clean. He didn't even feel sorry for the humans he killed! What a cruel guy.

***

Conan woke up the next morning, his arm throbbing. _Stupid scar…_ He cursed at it, not that it would do any good. Scars don't have feelings, and they can't talk either. This amused Ryuu.

_Look at him. For a detective, he sure isn't very bright. While he was sleeping, I had myself a great meal!_

Conan looked at the TV. "More attacks, it seems…" Adults, teens, and elders were being attacked. However, no children were ever targeted. "Why is this happening all of a sudden?"

"_**Beats me, kid. I wish I knew too, but what Death says, goes."**_

This startled the mini detective. _That voice sounds familiar… _He looked around, hoping to find the source of the voice.

"_**Idiot."**_

"Who are you calling an idiot?!" Ryuu apparently just ticked off the little kid.

"_**You."**_

"Ha ha ha."

"_**Yes, funny isn't it?"**_

Conan groaned. "Just get to the point! Where are you!?"

"_**Heh heh, do you even know why I gave you that scar? You're something special kid, so I'm going to be observing you!"**_

Usually Conan would just think someone was a prank on him, but since this was the same thing that attacked him, he knew it was real, and serious. "So how does this scar help you?"

"_**I can communicate with you at **_**any**_** time! I was only able to talk to you the first time we met because it was dark out earlier."**_

"I assume I'm the only one who can hear you?"

"_**You're smarter than I thought, kid."**_

"I have a name you know!" Conan snapped. He hated being called "kid", especially when there was a thief known as "Kaito Kid", usually called "Kid" for short.

"_**Whatever."**_ Ryuu didn't seem to care that much, not that he cared about anything that didn't have to do with Death or himself.

Conan tuned Ryuu out and waited for something else to happen. "How come no one came to visit me yet?" He wondered out loud.

"_**Beats me."**_ Conan ignored that comment.

"I'd even want _Harley_ to come visit me…" He immediately regretted saying that because—

"Yo, Kudo!"

"Oh _hell_ no!!"

* * *

_Author's Note: And that's a wrap! Yes, Ryuu breaking the fourth wall constitutes as a joke~! OMGz, I hate you Ryuu! How dare you insult me! D: Not to mention the narrator insulted me too! I got dissed twice!!! D: _

_Also, Harley appearing whenever he's mentioned constitutes as a joke too. _

_I have a feeling I rushed it at the end…but WHO CARES?_

_Note: I'm going away for a week after tomorrow, so I won't be back until Friday. D: Mangaluva's turn is next~ So hooray! Actually, she's writing the next two chapters._


	4. Growing Fear

Shadows in the Light

_Yes, actually, I DO own DC. The reason that the entities that you know as "Pretztailfan95" and "Mangaluva" write such awesome DC fanfic is because they are both actually ME, Gosho Aoyama! How do I manage it? For reasons of efficiency, Japanese days last five hours longer than everywhere else on the planet, thanks to mystical Japanese super-technology._

_...seriously, though. ^_^;_

_Cliffhangers weren't just made to add suspense, they were made to piss off the readers. :P_

_(Mangaluva's Chapter)_

**Growing Fear**

"How're ya doin', Kudo?" Harley asked, wandering into the hospital room and dropping a bouquet of flowers- thankfully _not_ lilies- next to Conan's bed. "Heard ya got scratched up by some kinda demon!"

"Well, I dunno what in Hell it was-" Conan began, but then the voice from inside his head cut in.

"**Demon stroke shinigami, kid. I'm the Grim Reaper's temp, you could say.**" Conan shook his head vigorously, as if trying to dislodge the voice. Harley stared at him.

"Somethin' up, Kudo?" he asked. "Ya got a headache or somethin'?"

"It's... nothing," Conan said, unable to tell Harley about the voice. Physically unable. His tongue had moved independently of his brain.

"**Hey, despite how it may look, I **_**am**_** trying to be subtle about this,**" the voice said, "**Which means no telling the world and their dog about me. I'd have to kill them, and dogs taste terrible.**" Conan paled at the thought of the shadowy creature that he'd seen, free and killing... "**You don't know the half of it, kiddo...**"

"_Stop calling me kiddo!_" he thought furiously.

"**I'm so sorry, **_**Jimmy**_**,**" the voice said sardonically. Conan's jaw dropped.

"Hey, Kudo, are you okay, man?" Harley asked. "Yer actin' kinda funny..."

"I'm all right," Conan insisted. "Arm's kind of sore after... _whatever_ it was... took a chunk out of it... but otherwise, all right. Seriously." Harley didn't quite look like he believed it.

"Really..." then he shrugged. "Whatever. I'm gonna be in town fer a coupla days, so I figured I'd have a look inta things, see if I can find out who or what this thing is... an' what it wants..."

"**I can answer that**," The voice said. "**Ryuu, Shinigami temp, and I want to do my job and get a few meals in on the side. Hey, the big guy didn't say **_**how**_** they had to die, just that they **_**had**_** to...**" Conan opened his mouth but nothing came out. "**Hey, I said, **_**I**_** can answer it, not that **_**you**_** can.**"

"It doesn't even seem ta be strikin' with any kinda pattern, aside from avoidin' little kids," Harley said, scrolling through headlines on his phone. "Fair number a' people with pre-existin' medical conditions, though... Could be a "pickin' off the sick and weak" kinda thing, if what we're talkin' about ain't human..."

"Sure didn't look it," Conan muttered, grateful that he could manage _that_ much.

"Thought not. Maybe I ought ask Kazuha ta make ya a charm..." Harley said thoughtfully. "I'd lend ya mine, but I swore blind I wasn't takin' it off out here... ya know how Kazuha is, scared ta death a' ghosts an' monsters, she was freakin' that the demon might try ta eat me if I didn't have my charm..."

"**I certainly would have eaten you, time or not, if you'd tried that,**" Ryuu growled, sounding less cocky than before.

"_Tried what? A charm?_" Conan thought to it. "_Hey, wait.... yeah, demons can be exorcised by charms and stuff, right?_"

"**Don't get any ideas, brat,**" Ryuu snapped. "**In any case, I'm filling the big guy's shoes so I've got a **_**little**_** immunity...**"

"_Only a little, huh...?_" Conan thought to himself.

"**I'm warning you, brat...**"

"_Don't I get a thought to myself anymore?_"

"**Hel... umm, heck no.**"

"_Dammit, Mangaluva! Get this thing out of my head!_"

A/N- Not if you're going to keep breaking the fourth wall. That's just rude.

"_Fine... you! Get out of my head!_"

"**Ooo, aren't we bossy... and no. I like it in here.**"

"... but it's too bad yer not gettin' out any time soon," Harley sighed, having apparently been talking throughout Conan's entire internal argument with Ryuu. "There's a Kid heist tonight, ya know..."

"Waitaminnit... a Kid heist?!" Conan yelped, forgetting about Ryuu. "I didn't hear!"

"'Course not, all the news ya been watchin's been on the attacks, ain't it?" Harley said, rolling his eyes. Conan winced.

"_Pegged it._"

"**So is he another detective or are you just predictable?**"

"_Shut it._"

"**Bit of both, methinks..."**

"_Shut it!_"

"What is he after? Where?" Conan demanded, determined to ignore Ryuu.

"Some rich snob's place near Tokyo Tower," Harley commented. "Some kinda French tiara 'e bought fer his wife, diamond the size a' yer fist... well, _my_ fist," he sniggered, indicating Conan's shrunken ones.

"You can shut it too," Conan sighed, to a confused look from Harley. "When?"

"Well, all they figgered was after sunset..." Harley commented, looking out of the window to the darkening sky, "so anytime soon, I guess."

"**Three... two...**"

"_What are _you_ counting down for? And when did it get to be evening, anyway?_"

"**... through the magic of narrative convenience...One...**"

The sun disappeared entirely below the horizon.

"**All right, let's get this show on the road...**"

"Wha-" Conan began but his scarred arm, of its own accord, reached out and grabbed his watch from the bedside table, exposing the point of the dart and stabbing him in the other hand with it. Conan blacked out.

"Kudo, what th'-" Harley began, before slumping to the floor, a tranquilizer dart in the forehead.

"**Maybe it's just a plot hole,**" Ryuu said with a shrug, before setting about the night's work.

_**Mangaluva:**__ I only realized, on rereading Pretz's chapter, that it had transformed from morning to evening in the time it took Harley to cross the room... eh... it's just another excuse for Ryuu to break the fourth wall. It's becoming a habit of his, dammit...(__**Pretz: **__What? It transformed into evening!? O_o I thought it was still morning…)_

_The next one's on me, too! Pretz got her bishie (Heiji), so now I wanna see a little of mine..._

_**Pretz:**__ NOOOO….you knocked Harley out…D: I wonder if Harley will be pissed off at this…lolz I can see it now, poor Conan. XDDD_

…_What WILL Ryuu do?_

_AND NO, I WON'T MAKE HIM APPEAR! XDDD Wait, I have to…no wait, YOU write Kid's heists!! I told you to write 4 and 5! YOU FAILED ME!!!! *stabs*_

_And since when could Conan break the fourth wall? It's funnier when Ryuu breaks the fourth wall and the others are confused. :P Love the countdown though._

_Yes, this is a one-sided argument between the authors. It is very funny. Laugh at how idiotic the two are acting. Point and laugh, and they shall be humiliated. Ha ha ha._


	5. Phantoms

Shadows in the Light

* * *

_Neither DC nor MK belong to me or Pretz, no matter how much we may wish it to be so. *fangirl huff* __**Pretz:**__ I only want DC! *hates Kaito*_

_And I know we're going with the English names for the most part, but can poor Nakamori still be _Nakamori_ instead of _Mace Fuller_? I'm going to inflict enough trouble on the poor man in this chapter without inflicting that name on him as well._

_Kaito Kid, Kaito Kid, does whatever a Kaito Kid does~_

* * *

**Phantoms**

Kaito sniggered proudly, soaring away from the building where the air around Nakamori had passed blue and was rapidly turning purple as the poor man realized that his hair, moustache and each of his eyebrows were now four distinct colours. The rest of the cops were merely trying to scrape off the glue, thought the sprinkles were probably making it a little difficult.

Result: He had a shiny emerald, and nobody was taking it off of him tonight.

Win.

He finally alighted on the balcony of an apartment block, changing into a dark jumper and jeans- he _could_ do subtle, if he wanted to- and pulling a dark baseball cap over his face before nimbly climbing down sixteen stories of balconies like the spider-monkey that his mother so often accused him of being. He was on the ground and jogging home in no time.

To be honest, lively and messy pranks aside, tonight's heist had been pretty boring. It couldn't be helped, he supposed. Hakuba was overseas again, and Conan was in hospital, having been attacked by whatever demented creature had been stalking the streets of Tokyo at night these days. Remembering that creature, Kaito remembered that _he_ was in fact wandering the streets of Tokyo, entirely alone, long after nightfall, and slipped his card gun out of his sleeve. He'd loaded it with sleeping-gas pellets, and he hadn't come across any life form that they hadn't worked on yet, from cops to police dogs to one extremely loud parrot.

He was nearly home, safe and sound, when a scream rent the night. He instantly turned, heading for the source of the scream, trying to ignore persistent worries about what could have caused the scream.

He hadn't expected this, though.

A huge, dark shape, like a dragon, was hunched over something limp on the ground. Kaito's brain seemed to blank it out, not processing what it was, instead focusing only on the reddish-black form of the dragon, a little see-through, not entirely real.

But the blood dripping down its snout as it greedily slurped away- _that_ was real enough.

Kaito shot a couple of sleeping-gas pellets at it. It recoiled, sneezing, but didn't seem inclined to conk out.

"**Great,**" it muttered between sneezes. "**Well, at least this much gas means the kid'll probably be out of it all the way to tomorrow night as well...**"

"What the hell?" Kaito gasped, backing away. The dragon snarled at him, then cocked its head to the side, like a dog listening to its master.

"**Aw, he- heck,**" it corrected itself. "**It's not even your time yet! Come on, can't I just-? Fine, fine, you're the boss, ya anorexic git...**" With that, it backed away, still sneezing. "**That's my allergies he's set off too, dammit... Come on, the idiot's always sticking his fingers up at you, the laws of mortals and the laws of physics, so why don't we just cut to the chase and-? All **_**right**_**, geez! I know when I'm being dismissed for the night...**" With that, it turned away, unfurling two huge black wings.

"**If it was just death saying you don't die yet, I might be willing to chance it,**" it snorted in that slightly stuffed-up voice that signifies somebody trying not to sneeze, "**But the authors won't let me either so I'm outta here before one of 'em tries to kill me off... Bloody fangirl...**" With that, it shot away, flying through the shadows.

Confused, Kaito instinctively chased it, leaping over the... thing on the ground, running after the sneezing shape flitting from shadow to shadow.

To his horror, it soared up the wall of a hospital. Was it going after a patient? Someone too ill to fight back, an easy meal for such a creature...

It slipped through a window, and Kaito quickly scurried up the wall after it like Spiderman, using the window ledges and some very jammy leaps to make it up. He peered in through the window that he'd seen the creature vanish into, expecting to see more horror, perhaps the creature sucking at an IV bag of blood like a juice carton.

But there was nothing. Only Conan, lying on a hospital bed, sleeping peacefully. Kaito's heart stopped when he saw a dark figure slumped against the wall opposite the bed, but as he undid the window lock and slipped inside, he found that the figure was Harley Hartwell, fast asleep.

"_Was I wrong about the window?_" he wondered. "_Hold on, though... why would this gut be sleeping against the wall in Conan's hospital room? Did it pass through and knock him out or something?_" A quick nighttime perusal of the rest of the hospital turned up nothing, though; no sign of any horrible murders, no giant shadowy dragons sleeping curled up in a corner. Sneaking around the hospital made him feel more like a criminal than taking the emerald had; after all, he might be Japan's greatest thief, but this wasn't his turf. Death was the thief who slipped in and out of this place, unnoticed, uncaptured, always with a prize never to be returned.

By the time he'd ascertained that the dragon was neither in the building nor had it killed anybody in it, it was nearing dawn. He made his way to Conan's room again, slipping out of the room again unnoticed.

He thought.

"_No way. No-o _way."

***

Harley wasn't out of it for long. After all, Conan should know his shots only lasted about an hour or so, long enough to get through the deduction. And from the feel of it, he'd only been hit by about half a shot.

But by the time he'd awoken, Conan had gone.

"_What th' hell does the kid think he's doin'?_" he'd wondered frantically. "_Where th' hell'd he go?_"

He'd looked all around the hospital, but it was getting late, so there hadn't really been many people around- just the night-shift nurses and on-call doctors that, on balance, Harley had decided to avoid. God knows what Conan was getting up to, but Harley trusted his friend enough to know that he had snuck off in silence, which meant he probably didn't want two dozen nurses and doctors combing the hospital for him.

But there'd been nothing, and Harley had just returned to the room when he'd heard something rattling at the window. He'd just slumped against the wall again, playing it safe by playing dead, when the window opened and closed long enough to admit and indistinct, shadowy figure. The shadow had flowed around Conan's bed for a moment, before shrinking, sinking, compressing itself into...

Conan.

Harley had been too paralyzed with shock to do anything more than continue to play dead when another figure came and went through the window a couple of minutes later. He just lay there, eyes half-open, staring at his sleeping best friend.

* * *

_But of course I do cliffies, Pretz! They're so much fun! XD /evil_

_Anyway, I've left it on a Heiji note for ya! ^_- Kaito is MINE! MIIIIINE! Whups... Harley. I keep having to go back and correct those. Thank heaven Kaito didn't have a demented English name inflicted on him... I mean, _Mace Fuller...

_**Pretz:**__ Shut up you British girl._

_Grrr…_I_ would've let Ryuu kill Kaito off…*angry growl* Oh and you better thank me for the opening note! I swallowed my pride to write that!_

_And since the characters seemed to have discovered it, I'll explain: ALL WILL BE REVEALED IN THE NEXT CHAPTER~ Unless my plot was too obvious for you…*looks at Fireline*_

_Poor Ryuu. He won't be killing any main characters for a while! *hint hint*_

_Dude, I use the MANGA names, which is why Kazuha isn't "Kirsten" and stuff._

_*cue squealing Harley/Heiji fangirls*_


	6. Friend AND Foe!

Shadows in the Light

* * *

_If we really owned DC and MK, this fic would be a whole lot better than it is now. :P_

_Truth be told, Ryuu killed Michael Jackson._

* * *

**Friend AND Foe?!**

The sun rose over the horizon as Harley woke up. He still couldn't get over what he had seen. _Was it really Kudo this whole time?_ He shook his head. _The question is, why? Why would he do something like that?! I'm pretty sure he'd rather kill himself before he'd brutally murder people! It just doesn't make sense… _He then remembered one more thing. _Speaking of not making sense…_

"Why the hell did he tranq me!?" Harley yelled out loud for no reason whatsoever. He looked over at his friend to see he was still asleep. _He should've been awake by now…_

Little did he know, Conan was still knocked out, so Ryuu had complete control of his body, but Ryuu chose to stay asleep, since he was too tired to do anything. He mentally snickered at Harley's question, but felt offended by the way he used "Hell".

_**I was careless last night. That Osakan brat saw me, so now he's going to try to talk to the kid, and if he learns about what he's done, he'll try to resist! That would make it harder for me…**_ Ryuu frowned. _**Good thing the kid's still knocked out, so I can pretend to be asleep still.**_

Harley continued to lean against the wall. _Why would Kudo do somethin' like this? There has to be an explanation. If Rachel was in danger…no, he would've found a way to protect her._ Trying to figure out Conan's motive made Harley's head hurt. _Well, he knocked me out when night came, so maybe if I return at the same time I can talk to him again…when he becomes that _demon_…_ Harley had decided. He got up and left the hospital room.

"Conan" opened one eye. _**He's gone for now, but I expect him to come back.**_

Silence.

Ryuu would've gone out, but he was currently too weak to transform in broad daylight, as this was the first time he had gone to Earth (Not to mention Conan was currently hospitalized). In fact, this was the only time Death took a vacation. Ryuu just did what he was told and took over for him. Despite being second in command, Ryuu knew very little about what Death currently had planned. All he knew was that he had to find a host to reside in while he fed on people's souls. The more time he spent in his host's body, the stronger he grew, as he would get used to the light. Eventually, he would be able to take over at any time, but it came with a price, not that it mattered to him since he would just have to sacrifice the soul of his host.

What made it so hard was the fact that most people had weak sanity when it came to the supernatural, making it hard for Ryuu to find the perfect body. That explained why most people who were attacked on the first day went insane.

But Conan hardly flinched when Ryuu confronted him. He was just startled a bit, considering dragons don't exist in this world and that Ryuu was also a demon. But if Conan found out that Ryuu was using his body, he would freak out (as it meant that he was a murderer as well). And if he found out, he'd try to resist, which would make it harder for Ryuu to take control even at night.

_**I wonder what the Osakan brat will want when he comes back. He's probably going to question me. I would just kill him, but he's not supposed to die yet. Damn, he's one of the ones who die naturally!**_ He knew that Harley would pose as a problem for him. He'd have to find some way to silence him. _**Maybe I'll just use another one of those tranquilizer darts on him.**_ Of course, he didn't know that Conan could only use one dart at a time. It's lucky for Harley that he didn't know that.

***

"Hey, Kudo! Are ya awake yet?" Harley walked in the room. The sun was reaching the horizon at this time. He looked around. Sure enough, "Conan" was sitting upright on the hospital bed.

"Hey." This time he actually greeted Harley.

"The sun's almost set completely." Harley observed, hoping to get something out of him.

"Yeah." "Conan" realized what Harley was up to. He reached for the watch again. Harley pretended not to notice.

"So…feelin' any better?"

"A bit. My arm still hurts, but I'm fine."

_Click._

Nothing happened.

"Eh?" _Click click._

"Ha! You should've known that you only have one dart Kudo!" Harley grabbed "Conan" by his arm.

_**Dammit! Cheap watch! Time for Plan B.**_ Shadows began emitting from "Conan", startling Harley and causing him to let go.

The small boy jumped out the window. Harley rushed over to see Ryuu instead. _Crap! I've gotta catch him!_ He followed Ryuu, still thinking that he was really Conan.

And the chase was on to bring his best friend and rival back to his senses.

***

Normally Kaito Kid would only be out during a heist, but this time he had to do some detective work of his own.

Objective: Find the connection between Conan and the oversized flying lizard.

He had already thought of one possible answer, but he wanted to be sure. Besides, the possible answer he had come up with was one that he did _not_ want to be true.

Conveniently, he heard the shouting of a familiar teenage detective and the beating of wings. Looking off the roof of the hospital building and, sure enough, Harley was chasing the dragon. Apparently he wanted some answers too. Either that or he was being a complete idiot by trying to take the thing down himself.

Opening his glider, Kaito joined the chase.

"Hey, Kudo!!" Harley shouted, hoping to stop the dragon who was _not_ Conan at the moment. "Stop!"

_**Wow, he's an idiot. Does he really think I'll stop just because he tells me too?**_ Ryuu continued flying, which ticked off Harley. He continued to ignore him.

Kaito sweat-dropped. He couldn't quite hear Harley due to the fact that he was farther away from him, but he could tell that he was trying to get the dragon to stop. _Let's see…he has an allergic reaction when it comes to sleeping gas…_ He smiled, dropping a sleeping gas pellet on the shadowy demon, causing it to sneeze. It stopped on the ground, much to Harley's surprise.

Looking up, the Osakan boy noticed the familiar grin of the Phantom Thief, unsure whether or not he should be glad to see him. He grew annoyed when he saw him wave from above. _This isn't a tea party…_

Reverting his attention back to Ryuu, who was still sneezing, he asked a rather pertinent question. "Why are you doing this!?"

Showing his head, Ryuu smiled. **"I'm not who you think I am. I'm the one who has been sending people to their deaths accordingly. Now shoo, you're not supposed to die until you're an old man!"**

This baffled Harley. He raised an eyebrow.

"He said the same thing about me." Kid landed nearby. "What I want to know is this: Is there any connection between you and the little detective?"

"What are you talkin' about?! He _is_ Ku—Conan!" Harley pointed an accusing finger at the dragon.

"**Looks like the thief is a better detective than you are, Mr. Hot Blood."** Ryuu chuckled.

"What did you say?!" Harley growled, clenching his fists.

"**Okay, let me explain it so that an Osakan like you can understand. Conan an' I ain't the same person. Got that? I'm **_**Ryuu**_**."**

"Then what did I just see?!" Harley protested.

Ryuu sat down, crossing his forearms. **"Remember the night when I came to Tokyo? I was only doing my job when I killed those people. See, as a Shinigami temp, I take over Death's job while he's away. So, I collect the souls for him."**

"Do you have to do it in such a brutal way?!"

"**Hey, this is my first time here on Earth. Gotta enjoy the taste of blood."** Ryuu shrugged. **"Anyways, the people who had gone to rehab were the ones I attempted to use as hosts."**

"Hosts?" Both Kaito and Harley were confused by this, as Ryuu was using "host" in a way other than what it's normally used for.

"**In other words, I needed a body to stay in so that I could get stronger. Eventually some people will have to die at specific times, so I need to be able to change whenever. But most of the people I tried to use were too weak in sanity for demons like me. Then I ran into the mini genius."**

_Finally!_ Harley was impatient.

"**Seriously, any **_**normal**_** kid would've been scared senseless by my presence, but that kid hardly flinched. I mean yeah, he was startled, but that was just about it. I found it easy to stay in his body, so I made my mark, which is that scar he has. Eventually, I'll grow stronger with each passing day, getting used to the light of this world, and then I can come out whenever, no problem!"**

"And what if one of us decided to tell Ku—Conan about how you're hanging around in his body and forcing him into murdering?" Harley demanded.

"**Well, not only would it be hard on me, but Death wouldn't be too pleased if I didn't get the list completed for each day. He'd probably kill you guys early to punish you. And then it's straight to Hell with you!"** Ryuu had a cruel smile on his face. **"Who was once your best friend and rival is now your mortal—or rather **_**immortal**_** enemy. Whatcha gonna do now, **_**Harley Hartwell**_**? Your friend is a murderer."** He sneered, causing Harley to lose his temper.

"Shut up!" He roared. The look of pain and anger in his eyes almost made Ryuu feel a little _guilty_ about teasing him like that. "It's not him who's doing the murdering! It's _you_!" He shook with rage. "No matter what you make him do, he's always going to be my friend! Ya hear me?! Nothing you do will change that fact!" He clutched his lucky charm in his hand and lunged at Ryuu. "You're going back to Hell, bastard!!"

* * *

_Author's Note: Phew! A long chapter~ I nearly used five pages!! T_T But I only got to four pages…so as you can see, Ryuu totally ticked off Harley. But what will happen to poor Conan after the fight? I mean, if Harley does deal some damage to Ryuu, Conan's gotta be hurt too, right? I'm writing the next chappie because Mangaluva wrote two~ And yes, Ryuu really did kill Michael Jackson. It just looked like he died because of other problems. The result of the battle will be displayed in the next chapter~_


	7. Hidden Truths

Shadows in the Light

* * *

_Seriously, weren't you listening!? If we owned DC, this fic would be a whole lot better than it is now! Sheesh! I swear…_

_This fic is brought to you by….Mangaluva *cheers* and Pretztailfan95 *boo!*_

* * *

**Hidden Truths**

Harley sat outside Conan's room. He was getting his wound taken care of.

_I should've known somethin' like that was gonna happen!_ He buried his head in his hands. He wasn't crying, but he was worried. A whole lot. Once again he let his hot-bloodedness take over, and Conan was hurt because of it. It's ironic because Conan was the first one to mention it. He was sticking up for Harley, until he said that he was just a little hot-blooded. If Hakuba were here now…

"You should really think before you act."

It angered Harley just _thinking_ about it. That snobby, rich—

_Wait… _Harley turned to his left to see Hakuba standing right there.

"I found it strange to see Kid out when he didn't even have a heist planned, so I decided to follow."

"Then…"

"Yep. I heard everything. And saw how you made that idiotic decision to attack Ryuu." He looked at the angered dark-skinned boy. "It's your own fault, you know."

"Ryuu started it!" Harley protested.

"Now you're acting like a little kid!" Hakuba sneered.

"No I'm not!"

Hakuba smirked.

The door opened. A blonde-haired nurse walked out.

"How is he?!" Harley immediately ran up to her.

"Calm down, he's perfectly fine!" It was Kaito Kid in disguise.

"Why are you disguised as a nurse anyways?!" Hakuba demanded. This was quite disturbing for both boys.

"I have my reasons." This scared them. "Anyways, come inside now. He's awake."

Conan groaned, clutching his arm still. "Are you going to explain this all to me now? Why was I out of this room?"

"Umm…." Harley tried to come up with an excuse. _We can't tell him what really happened…_ "Well…ummm…" Conan was pressuring him.

"Since Harley's being an idiot, I'll explain." Hakuba cut in. "You were kidnapped by the dragon, and then Harley here accidently injured you in the process of wounding the thing."

"But we did prevent it from murdering anyone!" The Kid added cheerfully, still in his nurse disguise.

Conan stared at the three for a long time. They could each tell that he had a hard time believing them due to the fact Harley had a hard time explaining things.

"How did you get here anyways, Hakuba?" Was that why he looked like he didn't believe them!?

"Following Kaito Kid."

"Then why aren't you trying to get him right now?"

"Screw him, you're injured!" Kaito took offense at that.

"Yeah, but it's just a flesh wound…it's not like I'm dying."

"You have a point there." Hakuba thought about it for a bit.

"Anyways, what happened to Ryuu?" Conan wondered.

"How do you know his name?" Harley didn't realize he knew his name.

"He talks to me."

"Does that explain why you were acting so weird when I came to visit?"

"Yeah. I just wasn't sure if you'd believe me anyways."

"No one ever believes you except for me."

"Hey!" Both Hakuba and Kid didn't like that. They both actually listened to him unlike Richard.

"So…has he been talkin' yet?" Harley ignored the two.

"No. Did you knock him out or something?"

Harley scratched his cheek. "You could say that…"

"You _could_ say that?" Conan's eyes flashed with suspicion. "Is there something you're not telling me?" Harley gulped.

"No! Would I lie to you?" _Yes…_

"Yeah."

Harley fell over. Hakuba laughed.

Conan continued on. "So…Ryuu didn't kill anyone last night? That's a relief…" He sighed gratefully.

"Looks like my "hot-bloodedness" paid off, _Hakuba_!" Harley took this chance to get a little payback, and Hakuba had to agree that if Harley didn't act sooner, Ryuu could've just taken off.

_But will we have to pay for it?_ _And I know Conan's not stupid, so we should be prepared if he gets suspicious. If he found out, it'd be a big deal to him, and who knows what he would try to do!_ Hakuba worried about this. How could they keep Conan from knowing?

_As if hiding Kudo's real identity wasn't hard enough! How are we gonna keep _Kudo_ from knowing what Ryuu's really doing?_ Harley couldn't help but wonder this as well.

***

Harley, Hakuba, and Kid had left already. Now Conan was alone, resting. He thought for a bit.

_From the way Harley was acting, it's obvious that something's up. Those three are hiding something from me…I just know it. But Harley hardly hides things from me! If he's going to far as to keep a secret from me, will I really want to know what it is? _He paused his thinking for a moment. _What if…!?_ He shuddered. He did _not_ want that to be true. But what if it was? What could he do? _It's best not to think about it…I mean really, sure there's been a lot of supernatural stuff going on, but _that_? Sounds pretty farfetched to me._ He relaxed a bit. _I guess this is how Rachel feels. It's so ironic._

He stared at the blank white ceiling. For some reason, it made his head relax just by looking at it. Was it because his mind didn't have to process anything else? If it was just one color, he didn't have to concentrate much on anything else in the room. Perhaps that was how life should work. If everything would just stay the same…

No. That was not how life should work. If everything were the same, how could you enjoy the wonders of the world? There was so much to do, so much to explore, yet so little time.

The reason life is so precious was because you never knew how long you had to live. You had to live life to the fullest, no matter what happened. If you knew when you would die…what would be the point of living at all?

All this thinking made Conan's head spin, not that he wasn't used to it. _Maybe I should just rest. I'll recover faster that way…_

***

Rachel was cleaning up Richard's office _again_. He was such a slob! Was he even worried about Conan?

Conan. Rachel stopped to think. Conan had been hurt so many times, hadn't he? From minor injuries to times when he had to get hospitalized. He was willing to put his life on the line for _anyone_, even a criminal. Just how much more could he take until his life was finally taken away? Rachel couldn't bear thinking about that. _Conan's so young…he shouldn't have to get hurt like this._ What irked her was the fact that he didn't seem to _mind_ getting hurt so often, just as long as no one else was hurt. _How did he do it?_

Conan was hardly afraid of anything. She bet that he was hardly afraid when that demon attacked him! Just like Jimmy…

Those two were so much alike. Heck, they even looked alike! If it weren't for the glasses, Conan would look like Jimmy's twin. So much of their qualities were the same that Rachel had even suspected that they were the same person! Time and time again, she was proven wrong. _Am I really just imagining things?_ Every time she had pressed Conan like that, he'd get very flustered. He ended up running over to Dr. Agasa's after a case whenever it happened, and then when she questioned him at home, Jimmy would call and then she'd realize she was just being silly! But it was too much of a coincidence. There had to be something Conan was hiding, and she wanted to find out what it was.

Rachel shook her head. _Even if Conan was hiding something, he's in no condition to be asked anything like that. _She scolded herself. _Just because I want to find out what it was doesn't mean Conan wants me to find out. What if it was all a trick in my head? How embarrassing would _that_ be!?_ Rachel decided to stop thinking about it.

She checked the time. _I should go check up on Conan before it gets too late._

***

Rachel wasn't prepared for what she saw. She was only walking into the room when she saw a shroud of shadows from Conan's bed exiting through the window. She ran over to it to see the same shadow dragon that had been attacking recently. It was just flying away, preparing to strike again.

Rachel stood there, stunned. _Wh…what?!_

* * *

_Author's Note: And that's it! If everything in the fic seems to be a bit…fast…WHO CARES?! I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING, GOSH!!! Yeah, Hakuba's appearance was totally lame. You can blame __**AngelRoy**__ for that. He/she came up with it first. :P_

_Conan finally knows how Rachel feels, not knowing what exactly is going on. Poor Conan._

_Hmmm…I wonder if I can find some way to get Kairi to read my fic…_

_Anyways, next up is Mangaluva, so hooray and good riddance that I'm gone! DX By the way…these chapters seem a bit short, don't they? Man, I've REALLY got to become a better author!_


	8. Seeking Truth

Shadows in the Light

* * *

_Yeah, me and Pretz own DC and MK. We wish._

_This chapter has been brought to you by Mangaluva *polite clapping*. The next chapter will be from... Pretztailfan95! *cheering and screaming*_

* * *

**Seeking Truth**

"Shit! It's happened agai- whoa. Um, when'd you get here?"

Rachel rounded on the flustered Harley as he almost skidded as he stopped just inside the door to the hospital room. "What's happened? What was that?" she demanded. "And _where's Conan_?"

"He's... um..." Harley snapped his fingers. "Outta the room fer a checkup! Yeah, he's down havin' his arm looked at, jus' left, probably won't be back fer a while..."

"_Really,_" Rachel said, narrowing her eyes. Harley gulped.

"_How does Kudo BS this girl?_" he thought, before trying to smile and say "Yeah, but I'm sure he's gonna be all right, ya know how tough that kid is..."

"_Where is he,_ Harley?" Rachel demanded, stalking towards him.

"I told ya, he's gettin' a checku-"

_Crack_

Harley stared at the small crater left in the wall by Rachel's fist three inches away from his left arm, paling to a normal person's complexion.

"Now tell me where he is," Rachel said pleasantly, "or the next blow will be ten inches to the left. Lucky we're already in a hospital, isn't it?"

"Um..." Harley said. "_Hurry up, Kuroba, Hakuba, hurry the hell up..._"

***

The black dragon streaked through the dark sky. He didn't seem to be followed. He could sense his first target for the night. He glanced down, spotted the Dead Man Walking coming out of a convenience store, dived down...

Someone rugby tackled the man, rolling out of the way and causing Ryuu to slam into the concrete. Something flew over his head, landing on the convenience store roof, then jumped down and landed on Ryuu's back.

"**What the crap?!**" Ryuu yelped as the Dead Man ran, screaming something similar. The tackler stood, brushing himself off.

"Well, I'd say that was a rousing success," Hakuba said, striding over to Ryuu as he tried to pull himself to his feet, irritated by the fact that someone was sitting on his wings.

"**I didn't see anyone following me!**" Ryuu growled.

"I have the hanglider in black, too," Kaito's voice said from Ryuu's back. "For when I need to be subtle."

"I didn't know you _did_ subtle," Hakuba said dryly.

"Nobody does, which is immensely helpful, I have to say."

"**Get off of my wings, Kuroba,**" Ryuu snapped. "**Mangaluva may not let me kill you, but I **_**can**_** toast you a little...**"

"Who?" Hakuba said in confusion.

"Probably a demon or something," Kaito said. "Now we're not going to let you kill anybody else..."

"**Listen, it's my **_**job**_**, all right?**" Ryuu snarled. "**Population control and all of that. If nobody ever died, then you'd all by lying in growing piles of starved stick-people, all right? If someone's time comes, they die, simple as that. The main man prefers subtler methods than me, I'll admit- heart attacks and car crashes and the like- but hey, he just told me to make sure people die on time, he didn't specify **_**how**_**.**"

"We're not letting you use Tokyo for your blood binges," Hakuba said sternly.

"And you're _really_ not using the little guy's body to do it," Kaito said, bringing increasing pressure down on Ryuu's wings. "Let him go, now."

"**Heck no!**" Ryuu said. "**Do you have any **_**idea**_** how long it took me to find such a perfect host?! I may never find another! I need this kid!**"

"Wait a moment," Hakuba said thoughtfully. "You said you were just temping while Death's on vacation, right?"

"**Um, yeah,**" Ryuu said hopefully.

"Then you'll let him go as soon as Death returns, right?" Hakuba said sharply.

"**Umm....**"

"_Right_?" Kaito demanded, yanking on Ryuu's wings.

"**The kid's gonna have such major back pains in the morning...**"

"_Right?_" two angry teenage voices demanded in unison.

"**Well...**"

***

"That thing was _Conan_?!" Rachel said in shock.

Oh yeah. Harley told her. He was seeing enough of the hospital these days without becoming a resident.

"Sorta," he hedged. "It's kinda... possessing him..."

"And it's using him to _kill _people?" Rachel gasped. "Oh my God, how horrible for him, I can't imagine-"

"He, eh... don't know," Harley admitted. "We ain't told him yet."

"What?" Rachel said.

"It's only taken over after dark, generally when 'e's already sleepin'," Harley explained. "He ain't conscious at th' time. He thinks there's somethin' screwy goin' on, but he don't know what yet..."

"You said we," Rachel said with a frown. "Who _else_ knows?"

"The Kaitou Kid," Harley said. "He was kinda stalkin' that thing the other night. An' Hakuba, who was kinda stalkin' Kid."

"So where..." Rachel said, looking out of the window.

"They went after it," Harley said. "I was just supposed ta hang around here an' prevent anyone comin' in... actually, I was about ta plant this inflatable dummy thing Kid gave me ta pretend it was the kid sleepin'... amazin' thing, look, it's about th' size of a tic-tac box but if ya pull that plug..."

"What're they going to do if they catch him?" Rachel interrupted.

"Stop 'im killin' anybody, I guess," Harley said with a shrug. "We don't really know how ta fight or exorcise that thing yet, I tried with my charm but it only hurt the kid..."

"Wait a minute," Rachel said dangerously. "You mean the reason his arm had to get stitched up again... the reason that scar opened up and was bleeding all over the place... was because of _YOU?!_"

Harley gulped, trying to estimate the distance to the door.

* * *

_Kaito, how could you? I'm not evil! (voice in head: have you read your own cliffhangers?) All right, fine, but I'm not a _demon_! (voice in head: all up to interpretation...) shut up! Do you have any idea how crazy you make me look to the readers?! It's Pretz that brings this out in me..._

_**Pretz: **__Mwa ha ha~ Oh man, I love this chapter~ But…it's a TAD bit short. :P What happened to the Mangaluva that wrote long chapters!? WHYYYYYYYY!? *sobs on keyboard* Better make a run for that door Harley! XDDD Sheesh, I feel like I'm reviewin' all over again! *slaps self* Hey wait, Ryuu, you can kill HAKUBA! We'll let you kill him! *evil laugh*_

_Anyways, this chapter was written by Mangaluva. So blame her for the short chapter. I have to admit, it was highly amusing. Amusing, but short. *scolds Mangaluva* Also, I just noticed you used "-kun" in an English dub fic! ...I really gotta learn to use the Jap. dub...but the honorifics are all so confuzzling! *head spins*_


	9. Enter Sitl, the Adorable Demon!

Shadows in the Light

* * *

_In case you hadn't noticed, Mangaluva nor I own DC or MK. Only Mangaluva wants to own MK! I DON'T!_

_MANGALUVA'S GOT THE FLU!!! D: Get well soon!_

**Enter Sitl, the Adorable Demon!**

* * *

Harley had _barely_ escaped Rachel. He looked behind him to make sure he had lost her. Rachel wasn't too pleased with the fact that Harley was the one who got Conan's scar reopened, and she was pretty scary when she was angry, or even not too pleased.

Harley bent over, panting. How he managed to escape Rachel, he had no idea.

"**Hey, you!"** A voice popped up from nowhere. This confused Harley as he looked around.

"Who's there?" A little dragon popped up in front of Harley's face.

"**Hiya!"** It was another demon. This one looked like a dragon-like bird about the size of a parrot with a bag strapped around its shoulder.

"Another demon?" Harley had enough of demons, even if there was only one running about at the moment.

"**Oh, come on! Just hear me out!" **The demon pouted. This one had a different personality from Ryuu. **"I'm Sitl! Death says my name is **_**special**_**!"** He flew around in a circle. He paused and looked at Harley. **"Have you heard of a demon named Ryuu?"**

"Yeah, I know him. And I hate him!" Harley growled.

"**Anyways,"** Sitl ignored that comment, **"do you know where he is now?"**

"Probably out tryin' to kill someone, but Hakuba and Kaito Kid are supposed ta be stallin' him."

"**Ah!"** Sitl panicked. **"Death isn't going to be happy about that! If Ryuu doesn't get each list done in time…"** he shuddered. Then the little demon brightened up. **"So…can I hang out with you for now?"** Harley was unsure about this idea.

"Ya mean in my body!?"

"**No!"** Harley sighed with relief. **"Death allowed me to come out during the day so that I can keep an eye on Ryuu whenever. If I had a host, I couldn't follow him that well."**

"Ya know, you're pretty pleasant for a demon."

"**Not all demons are evil." **Sitl explained. **"We're actually quite peaceful. Well, back at home we are. Some of the demons tend to be a bit brutal with their killings."**

Harley couldn't imagine demons as _peaceful_.

Sitl reached into his bag and pulled out a mini navigator. **"Let's see…Ryuu should be right around…"** He pointed towards a certain direction. **"There!"** Sitl began flying towards that direction.

"I should probably check up on the two guys anyways…" Harley decided to chase after the little dragon-like bird.

Ryuu gave up on trying to get Hakuba and Kaito off. He'd rather keep them on than have his wings torn off. **"Even if Death came back from vacation, I couldn't possibly let this kid go."**

"And _why not_?" Hakuba gripped Ryuu's wing rather tightly.

"**Like I said before, it was hard to get someone like this kid!"**

"Why you—"

"**Ryuu!"** The shadow dragon paled (even though it was pretty hard for a _shadow_ dragon to do so) when he heard that voice.

_**Please tell me it isn't who I think it is…**_

"**Ryuu! It's me, Sitl!"** The little demon flew over towards him.

"**No!"** Ryuu smacked his head.

"Hey, is there room for one more?" Harley called up.

"**Forget it…"** the larger demon landed on the ground.

"So…who is this?" Kaito asked Harley, assuming that he knew. After all, he did come running up following Sitl.

"His name is Sitl. Said that he came to check up on Ryuu or somethin' like that." He explained. "A _lot_ more friendlier than the oversized bastard."

"**Hey!!"**

"**So…Ryuu…" **Sitl began his questioning. **"How are things going?"**

"**Would've been easier if these stupid humans would stop getting in the way."** Ryuu reluctantly answered. **"Why did Death send **_**you**_** anyways?"**

"**Because I actually get my job done."** Harley snickered upon hearing that.

"**Bastard…"** The dragon muttered.

"**Who's your host, anyways?"** Sitl continued, noting the flinches from Hakuba, Kid, and Harley.

"…"Ryuu didn't respond.

"What's the matter?" Harley began to taunt him. "You were so bold just a moment ago!"

"Maybe he's afraid of Sitl!" Hakuba couldn't help but join in.

Ryuu grew angrier.

"Even the worst demon has a soft spot!" Kid taunted.

Ryuu lost it. He began chasing the three teens who quickly ran off towards the hospital, leaving Sitl in a cloud of dust.

He sat there for a moment, taking the time to process what just happened. Then, realizing he was the only one left, he called out: **"Hey!! Wait for me!!!"** And then he chased after them.

***

Rachel waited impatiently for Harley to return so that she could have some butt-kicking time. She _was_ expecting a tired dark-skinned boy whose parents both had pale skin to appear somewhere nearby. What she _wasn't_ expecting though, was two detectives, one thief, and two demons to come bursting through the window. Of course, one of the demons was no longer in the form of a demon, but in the form of the familiar 8-year-old boy that everyone knew and loved.

Kid was on top of "Conan" who was on top of Harley who was on top of Hakuba who was on top of Sitl. It was quite confusing, really.

Rachel forgot about wanting to kick Harley's butt and focused her attention on "Conan". "Are you okay Conan?"

"**I'm still not Conan…"** Ryuu tapped his fingers on the ground with a frustrated look on his face. It was then that Rachel noticed Conan's eyes were more red than blue. Her expression immediately changed.

"It's the demon…"

"Yeah yeah, it's the demon that everyone hates." Harley glared at Ryuu.

Sitl immediately panicked upon finding out who Ryuu's host was. **"Oh nooo!!! Conan's your host!?"**

"**Yeah, so?"** Ryuu didn't see what was so bad.

"**You can't use him as your host!!" **Sitl nearly screamed.

"**And why not?"**

"**Because…"** The dragon-bird whispered something to the person who was not Conan. His eyes widened.

"**Oh crap! Seriously!?"** Sitl nodded solemnly.

"**If I had known that I would've tried to find someone else!!"** Ryuu was really panicking.

"If you had known what?" Rachel was extremely curious.

"**Sorry, that's classified information. We couldn't tell you."** Ryuu folded his arms.

"And why not?" Harley demanded.

"**Because if we told you, your bodies would burn in the flaming pits of Hell for all eternity."**

Everyone's jaws dropped.

"**It's true."** Sitl put in.

"Now I see what Ku—I mean Conan has to deal with…" Harley put his hand on his face.

"**Speaking of which…"** Ryuu looked outside. **"It's nearly morning." **He struggled to get out from under Kaito, who then stood up and sent him flying into a wall. **"Ow."**

"Why are you all still lying there anyways?" Rachel wondered.

"Who's lying where?" Harley immediately got up and pretended not to notice.

Hakuba got up and brushed himself off, and Sitl nearly ran out of air from being squished.

"Harley, what did you mean by what you said before?" Rachel didn't know Conan could talk to Ryuu.

"Yeah…Conan said that he can talk ta Ryuu."

"And he's still not suspicious!?"

"He _is_ suspicious. But apparently he hasn't come ta any conclusions due to the fact that he's never dealt with the supernatural before…well, none of us have, but ya get the point."

It was just then that everyone noticed Kaito Kid had disappeared.

Ryuu finally crawled back into the hospital bed and went to sleep.

Everything was back to normal. Or so it seemed.

***

Conan was surprised to see Harley, Hakuba, and Rachel standing in the room when he woke up.

"Good morning…" He sat up and stretched.

"**Hiya!!!"** Sitl popped up in front of Conan's face, startling him. He was about to go through the introduction process all over again. **"I'm—"** He got cut off.

"Sitl…" Conan had a blank look on his face as he said that. He paused for a moment. "….Uhh…?" He wondered how he even knew that.

_He subconsciously remembers things from when Ryuu is taking over…that's not good._ Harley was very worried now. _Poor guy…it's almost as though he has memories that aren't even his._

"**ANYWAYS!!"** Sitl tried to break the awkward silence. **"I **_**am**_** Sitl! I bet you knew because Sitl is an acronym!! And how convenient too…"** He blabbered on about the meaning of "Sitl". Now _no one_ had a clue as of what he was talking about.

"_**There he goes again, talking about how **_**special**_** his name is…"**_ Hearing Ryuu so suddenly startled Conan.

"_Is there any way to block you out?"_

"_**Hey!"**_

Ryuu continued to rant and Sitl continued to talk about his name. But Conan wasn't concentrating on that. He was really concerned about what was happening to _himself_. He noticed the magnifying glass still on the table. Picking it up, he placed it over his scar, revealing its true form. Harley and Hakuba noticed this and watched as well, leaving only Rachel to listen to Sitl.

_Ever since I ran into Ryuu, this scar has been a part of me. Ryuu claims that it only allows him to talk to me…and then Harley and the others have been acting strange, as though they're hiding something from me. They eye me like there's something wrong._

_What's _happening_ to me?_

But nothing serious lasts for long, as Rachel suddenly remembered something.

"Oh _Harley_!"

Harley froze. Turning around _very_ slowly, he saw the huge grin on the girl's face.

"I do believe I have some butt to kick! And I'm not the only one doing it!" The dark-skinned detective paled. A lot. Both Kazuha and Rachel were going to kill him.

"Wait, when did Kazuha get here?"

That question was never answered.

* * *

_Author's Note: And that's a wraaap~ *hyper* Yes yes, Conan wonders~ Of course, this happens a few times. It's like with Rachel wondering about Conan's secret in the anime and manga! Poor, poor Conan…D: Actually, poor, poor _Harley_! XDDD_

_YES, MANGALUVA HAS THE FLU!! D: You'll wish for her to get better, RIGHT!?_


	10. Flights of Fancy

Shadows in the Light

* * *

_Disclaimer: If you try to sue me, I'll hug you and give you SWINE FLU! *coughoinkcough*_

_Seriously, I'm more than mildly delirious, so forgive me this... XD_

* * *

**Flights of Fancy**

"Your mom wants to know why you haven't come back yet," Kazuha growled. "I mean, it's only _New Year's Day_ tomorrow..."

"Oh yeah..." Harley scratched his cheek. "I, uh... I've been kinda worried about the kiddo, ya know, an' there's this case I gotta check out an'-"

"And he's going be residing in the hospital soon," Rachel continued, still stalking towards him with her fists clenched.

"Gotta run," Harley yelped, sprinting out of the door, Rachel following with a war cry.

"What the hell just happened?" Kazuha asked.

"I'm sure he had it coming to him," Kaito said with a shrug.

"I could have sworn I locked that window," Hakuba said.

"And?" Kaito said nonchalantly, leaning against the window frame.

"Wait, who are you again?" Conan asked, staring at Kaito. "Whoa, you look like... hold on a minute."

"Who _are_ you?" Kazuha asked.

"Kaito Kuroba, magician," Kaito said, producing a pink flower from nowhere and handing it to her. "I'm, eh... a friend of the little guy's."

"You have such a way with words," Hakuba commented. "You weren't technically lying through any of that introduction, and yet..."

"Kazuha, shouldn't you go rescue Harley before Rachel kills him?" Conan asked, sensing that he needed to talk to Kuroba and Hakuba in private. Kazuha took off with a suspicious backwards glance.

"I was stalking that dragon-thing," Kaito explained.

"Where did you vanish to in between times?" Hakuba asked.

"I was talking to a, uh... a specialist," Kaito hedged, with a look at Hakuba that meant nothing to Conan. "All she said was that in a possession, the host and demon are deeply linked, and hurting the demon only hurts the host."

"As Harley demonstrated," Hakuba snorted, gesturing to Conan's arm.

"Wait, _host_? Conan said, suddenly feeling panicky. "You mean the reason I can hear Ryuu is that he's _in my head_?"

Kaito and Hakuba exchanged "oh crap" looks.

"Sort of," Hakuba said delicately. "Just during the daytime, since he can't go out in daylight..."

"And at night?" Conan pressed nervously.

"He does his own thing," Kaito hedged, "which we're trying to prevent, thank you..."

"So my head's some kind of demonic motel?" Conan said incredulously.

"Sort of," Hakuba said carefully. Conan narrowed his eyes.

"What aren't you two telling me?" He demanded. Kaito and Hakuba exchanged another look.

***

"Please, I was just tryin' ta help him, I didn't know it'd-"

"You shouldn't have taken that risk!"

"Before you kill this idiot, Rachel," Kazuha asked, grabbing her friend's fist, "can I find out why so that I can decide whether to watch or join in?"

"The idiot accidentally reopened Conan's wound," Rachel snarled. "He had to get stitched up again." Kazuha nodded thoughtfully, then grabbed Harley's arm and twisted him against the wall so that he couldn't move without dislocating his own shoulders.

"It was an accident!" Harley yelled. Rachel drew back her fist.

"**I'm afraid you really can't hurt Ryuu at all without hurting the detective,**" Sitl said, popping up out of nowhere.

"What the hell?" Harley muttered, trying to look at Sitl though he recognized the voice. He managed to turn around when Kazuha let him out of the armlock, staring at the little demon.

"What on earth is that?" she asked.

"**I'm not from Earth,**" Sitl supplied helpfully.

"He's a demon named Sitl, which he thinks is special fer some reason," Harley said, rolling his shoulders. "What do you want?"

"It's so _cute!_" Kazuha squealed. Rachel giggled, and Harley just rolled his eyes. Sitl blushed.

"**Well, thank you!**" Sitl said. "**It pains me that we won't get to pick you up for another sixty years, but such is death. More importantly, I have to warn you about something.**"

"Warn us?" Rachel said. "Are you going to tell us how to get that demon out of Conan?"

"Wait, Conan's _possessed_?" Kazuha gasped.

"How do we get rid of it?" Harley asked. "We ain't figured out how ta hurt it without hurtin' Ku-the kid, about all we can do it make it sneeze..."

"**I'm afraid Ryuu cannot be displaced by outside forces,**" Sitl said mournfully. "**Typical. Stubborn idiot. He gets dug in and... well, anyway, there are only three ways that he'll leave.**"

"How?" Rachel asked anxiously.

"**The first is the Mysterious Unexplained Plothole, which I'm sure Pretztailfan and Mangaluva have too much integrity to use,**" Sitl said.

"We think they're more important demons or something," Harley muttered to the confused girls.

"**Secondly, if Ryuu chooses of his own volition to leave, then he can, although as I've said, it's unlikely, the stubborn idiot's clearly attached to his host... if Death demanded that he leave, he probably would, but the big guy's still got two weeks left on his cruise, unfortunately, and by then...**"

"So what's our third option?" Harley asked.

"**The host can... well, he doesn't have any spiritual powers, does he?**" Sitl asked.

"Nope," Rachel said with a shrug.

"Aside from bein' a death magnet..." Harley muttered.

"**We know **_**all**_** about that, trust me,**" Sitl sighed. "**Well, no self-exorcisms, then... put simply, the host has to exercise the strength of will to control Ryuu. During the daytime, this ought to be easy. At night, it'll be tougher, especially if he falls asleep.... he just has to prove to Ryuu whose body it is, that's all. If he makes things miserable enough, Ryuu might leave...**"

"He can probably do that, he's a tough kid," Harley said with a shrug.

"Backtrack a mo," Kazuha said. "Ya said "and by then" a minute ago. What'll happen in the next coupla weeks if Ryuu still has full reign?"

"**Well...**" Sitl said nervously. "**He'll... complete the fusion.**"

"What does _that _mean?" Rachel asked fearfully.

"**He'll have complete control of the body,**" Sitl explained. "**He'll be able to go out into daylight, and, uh...**"

"_And?__**" **_Harley, Kazuha and Rachel pressed in unison.

"**If he has full possession, there's no room for the host's soul,**" Sitl explained rapidly, clearly preparing to flee. "**His soul will be, um, displaced, and then, ah, it will...**"

"He'll be some kinda ghost or somethin'?!" Harley asked angrily.

"**No no no,**" Sitl said rapidly. "**He'll simply be cast into the bowels of Hell to burn for all eternity...**" he caught the look on their faces and gulped, before vanishing in a little ball of fire.

***

"_Can't bluff a detective...__**"**_Kaito thought with a gulp. "_He knows something's up..._"

"What are you two hiding?" the kid demanded angrily again. More than ever, it was evident that the boy was not genuinely a child. It was an angry young man that faced them—one, perhaps, that was capable of handling the truth. He certainly had a right to it, for all his suffering.

"Hakuba, maybe we ought to tell him..." he said carefully.

"He's a child, can he handle it?" Hakuba asked.

"He can _hear_ you," Conan said irritably, "and _he_ doesn't like people talking over his head."

"Easy to do, though," Kaito sniggered.

"No height jokes," Conan snarled. "Answer the question."

"Okay, okay..."

"Conan!" Rachel cried, bursting into the room, followed by a pale Kazuha and a slightly lighter-brown Harley. All three had fear in their eyes, though Harley also looked furious.

"What's wrong?" he asked as Rachel knelt next to the bed, grabbing his good hand.

"We were about to tell him..." Hakuba started.

"He's gotta know," Harley fumed. "Kid—Ryuu's not just talkin' to ya. He's possessin' ya. He's literally in yer head."

"So that's it," Conan said, frowning. "He's..."

"But more importantly," Harley said, "If ya don't fight ta push the bastard out, within the next fortnight he's gonna complete th' job an' cast yer soul inta th' fiery pits of Hell."

Conan stared at Harley in complete silence for a few minutes, as did Hakuba and Kaito, whose jaw had hit the floor before he snapped it back up into Poker Face.

"Run that by me again?" he said weakly.

* * *

_Over to you, Pretz... I know this one's short again, but I didn't have any more to say, and in any case it's very distracting to write while watching _Mock The Week _shorts, although watching Dara O'Brian, Russel Howard and Frankie Boyle dedicate pretend to get slowly dragged towards Switzerland (It was the Hadron Collider episode) was brilliant. Laughter is the best medicine XD _

_**Pretz: **__CRAP!! That's pretty harsh, Harley…D: My tantei-sama…calling me a demon, and knocking down Conan's mental wall…well, Chiyu-chan(My nickname for Mangaluva) is obviously delirious enough to do this, and I already told her that I'm too much of a wuss to write this next chapter…:P But I suppose I'll have to make ado. Actually I can't. I just tried writing the next chapter, but it was too OOC and I had to scrap it. :P_

_Oh and by the way, I messed up on chapter 9…Sitl was under Hakuba and yet I wrote that he whispered to Ryuu, who was on top of Harley who was on top of Hakuba, meaning Hakuba and Harley would have heard too, and Sitl can't reach that far…so…I DUNNO. I SCREWED UP, OKAY!? *sobs*_

_In case you're wondering what Sitl told Ryuu, it'll be explained…in…umm…the last chapter(Chiyu-chan doesn't even know! *mwa ha ha*). Yeah. Also, Sitl's name is the acronym for this fic's title. _

_**S**__hadows_

_**I**__n_

_**T**__he_

_**L**__ight_

_Love the "oh crap" looks by the way, Chiyu-chan. Extra brownie points for whoever can figure out what "chiyu" means, and it's not the first meaning that comes up on search engine! WAR CRY!!! *chases after Harley with Rachel*_

_By the way, Chiyu-chan does NOT have swine flu! If she did, I'd probably burn this chapter up in a bonfire surrounded by stereotypical witch doctors singing the "Witch Doctor" song. She has regular flu._

_Actually, I have no idea what Conan calls Hakuba in the English manga…:P I just assumed "Hakuba" even though his first name is Saguru…by the way, shouldn't volume 30 come out soon? That's when Hakuba first appears, so then I should know!_

_I love my reviewers! So if you want love, review~!_


	11. Malleus Maleficarium

Shadows in the Light

* * *

_Disclaimer: I told the witch doctor I don't want to get sued *bom-bom-bom-bom* This is owned by Aoyama, not by me and you *bom-bom-bom-bom*_

_Iiiii'm back! I still have no lucid explanation for the title of the last chapter. Or this one, much. Well, demonic possession _was_ mentioned in it..._

* * *

**Malleus Maleficarum**

"So in a nutshell," Conan summarized, looking over the thief, the two detectives and the two girls, "That thing not only attacked me but actually _possessed_ me, takes over at night, and the only way to avoid getting evicted from my own body is to give it a mental kicking?"

"Basically, I think," Harley said. He caught Kid and Hakuba's eyes, praying that Kudo's mind would, for once, overlook something, primarily the part about the dead people. The odds were better for Lord Lucan suddenly riding in on Shergar, he knew, but he could always hope.

"The danger spot is nightfall," Kaito said. "That's when he's come out before. He'll try to take over and transform your body into his- that hugeass dragon thing. I guess it's up to you to resist that, since my sleeping gas just makes him sneeze and Harley's charm, well...."

"We're _not_ trying that again," Rachel growled.

"No, ma'am," Harley gulped.

Conan stared at the scar on his arm silently for a few minutes. Then, in a voice so quiet it was almost inaudible, he whispered, "People have... died... since I was attacked. Does that mean... _I-?"_

"_You_ killed no-one," Harley cut him off sharply. "Ya weren't in control, that bastard Ryuu was. Ya didn't do nothin', all right?"

"But you're saying that he possessed me," Conan said tremulously, "that he used _my_ body to kill-"

"That doesn't make it your fault!" Rachel cried. "You're as much a victim of Ryuu as they are!"

"Yeah, but _I'm_ still alive," Conan pointed out flatly.

"That wouldn't seem to be the case for long," Hakuba pointed out. "You are a detective, are you not? Catch their murderer, so he won't hurt anyone else."

"That's right," Kazuha said with a frantic nod. "Wallowin' in fear an' self-hatred ain't gonna do anything but make things easier fer Ryuu, and that's the _last_ thing we want, right?"

"You're not a murderer, Conan-kun," Rachel said, kneeling down and clutching his hand-his cursed hand. "You're not, all right? You have to be strong. You have to fight Ryuu."

"Yeah..." Conan said, but he still looked unconvinced.

"_**Man, am I in trouble...**__" _Ryuu moaned to himself. He hadn't gotten to deal with _anyone_ on last night's list! He'd have to get them tonight, just making it a double load, and those idiot detectives and thieves and she-ninjas were still crowded around the host, making it difficult to get past them, which would make it a triple load tomorrow night...

"_**On the other hand,**_" he thought with a sadistic smirk, "_**At least there'll be one less of them tomorrow night...**_"

He wasn't shifting from this body, either, no matter what that little ass-licker Sitl said. If what the little idiot had said was true, after all, once the boy's soul was cast out it could probably pull a few strings in the Underworld to get a lesser purgatory and then just reincarnate _again_. Ryuu was pretty sure that there was supposed to be an upper limit on how many goes you got before it was heaven or hell, even for Hindus, but maybe the Underworld made exceptions for ex-employees.

So Death would probably be pissed. By the time he got back, there'd be nothing _he_ could do about it, and Ryuu would be nicely dug in.

... the kid knowing about him was a problem, though. If he had the strength of mind to

even host Ryuu, he'd probably have the strength of mind and will to resist him. Ryuu didn't really fancy being locked in a back corner of the kid's mind. There was some nasty stuff shoved back there. Mostly bodies. Endless murder victims, and for some reason, a few notes of piano music.

"_**Seven people to deal with tonight,**_" he thought with a sigh. "_**I wish I'd been assigned to cover a village in Ethiopia or something while the big guy was away, I'd have plenty of meat then... and no annoying teenagers in the way. Well, it's not going to be an easy fight for them... the fic would be over already if it was. I'm going to have my blood tonight, and tomorrow night as well... including... one of theirs...**_"

Conan couldn't bring himself to sleep, though he knew he ought to before night fell and Ryuu awoke. He couldn't get the thought out of his head, though; People had died, Ryuu had killed them, and had used _his_ body to do it. He knew in his head that the deaths were hardly his fault, that he hadn't chosen to slaughter those people, but he still couldn't help but feel that their blood was on his hands.

Harley and Kazuha had gone to get drinks out of a vending machine on the floor below, Kaito had vanished, so only Hakuba and Rachel were in the room with him, Hakuba reading a heavy old book that he'd apparently borrowed from a friend and Rachel watching the sun slowly descend towards evening outside the window.

In the end, Conan gave up trying to sleep. "What are you reading?" he asked Hakuba.

"It's called the Malleus Maleficarum," Hakuba explained. "It's Latin, meaning "The Hammer Against Witches". Published in the fifteenth century in Germany for the express purpose of locating and destroying witches and demons. Frankly, the vast majority of it is a terribly misogynist load of trash which led to a lot of innocent women being burned at the stake, but as the demonic-exorcism passages do not seem gender-oriented I thought they may yield something useful- even more so considering that while Ryuu has a Japanese name, he and his ilk seem to be western demons. "Sitl" certainly isn't Japanese, and he referred to his boss as simply "Death", or..."

"I think "Anorexic Farmer" was th' term Kuroba mentioned, wasn't it?" Harley said, returning and tossing a can of coffee to Hakuba. Kazuha handed another to Rachel. "In Japan, there's a buncha gods associated with death, as well as miscellaneous lesser Shinigami. But in th' west, they just got the one, gen'rally represented as a skeleton or skeletal figure in a black robe with a scythe- a farmin' tool. So yeah, these guys do seem ta be outa western mythos rather'n Japanese mythology."

"Ryuu doesn't seem as loyal to Death as Sitl, though," Rachel said. "He could be Japanese..."

"**He is,**" Sitl said, popping up out of nowhere. "**Hey there. Feel like a chat?**" He glanced at the Malleus Maleficarum. "**That thing, huh? The witches were always laughing their heads off about that thing. They never caught a real witch, mainly because real witches don't burn. I mean, they have hellfire in their veins, for pity's sake, everything after that's as likely to burn you as cold ash...**"

"So I've heard," Hakuba said dryly. "What were you saying about Ryuu?"

"**Oh yeah... well, he's not exactly ours,**" Sitl said. "**He's a Japanese youkai alright, not a western demon like me. Actually, I think he's a really high-class Shinigami or something. It works like this; most people die on time. Sometimes they don't. Those rare cases- although they're getting more common all the time, unfortunately- are where Death steps in. Sometimes he takes a break, in which case regional demons or shinigami take up the slack, finishing those who don't die on time. Death himself is subtle- he prefers to lock car brakes or just give them a heart attack or whatever. Ryuu kind of... isn't. That's up to his discretion, of course, but...**"

"That makes it all right for him to _kill_ people, does it?" Rachel said acidly.

"**I should think so,"** Sitl said with a shrug, an odd motion from a creature with wings. "**What isn't all right is the possessions. So most demons or youkai or whatever can't go out in daylight- that's what shadows are for. He could do his job without possessing anybody. But he's an arrogant idiot, so he figures, while he's got licence to kill... well, it's more of a learner's permit, really, but you get the idea. He **_**can**_** possess people if he wants, but it's kind of bad etiquette, you know? Especially full fusions, they cause all **_**sorts**_** of trouble, and on top of that the **_**person **_**he chose to possess...**"

"Death doesn't like turning a little kid into a killer?" Conan said quietly.

"Conan, you're _not_ a killer!" Rachel burst out. "_You_ haven't done anything wrong! You weren't in control!"

"I should have been," Conan said. "I let that thing use my body- I let him make _me_..."

"_You_ were sleeping while that thing was killing people," Hakuba said. "You did nothing."

"It was my body that killed them," Conan said. "Controlled or not, it was still _me_ that..."

"Listen, kid," Harley growled, shaking his thin shoulders, "_You ain't done nothin'_, all right? Just 'cause that thing used yer body don't mean it was you that did it. You of all people oughta know that who ya are ain't necessarily the same as what body yer in."

Conan shifted uncomfortably, avoiding his own reflection in the darkening window, which suddenly popped open.

"All right, I _know_ I locked that," Kazuha said.

"He does that," Hakuba sighed.

"Why don't ya use the door like a normal person?" Kazuha asked, nonplussed.

"Because he's not a normal person," Harley and Hakuba chorused, before glaring at each other.

"Take it from me, the sun'll be below the horizon in about fifteen minutes," Kaito said, clicking the window closed behind him and ignoring the kokosei-tantei, "so you have that long to steel yourself to stop Ryuu from killing anyone _tonight_."

"**Even if he gets out, he's not going anywhere,**" Sitl said. "**I need to talk to him. Death will have his head on a scytheblade for possessing that boy, he really will...**"

"I don't think..." Conan began, but then he winced in pain, gripping his damaged arm as it began to throb. It pounded like a heartbeat, each wave of pain growing stronger as the sun dropped below the horizon.

"Conan!" Rachel cried. "Hold on!"

"**My turn,**" Conan heard a voice in his head hiss.

"No," Conan muttered. "You're not killing anyone tonight..."

"**You mean **_**you're**_** not?**"

Then memories flashed through his head- images of dying people, the sound of their screams, the feel of their soft flesh tearing under his claws.

"_I... killed..._" he thought in a panic, and Ryuu took advantage of his moment of weakness. His left arm glowed black as it swung up, under his jaw, knocking him out.

"Ku-kiddo!" Harley yelped as Conan's head snapped back. Ran screamed. Conan's head slowly tipped forwards again, his eyes closed as if sleeping, but when he slowly opened his eyes, they were once again blood red.

"**I'm **_**back**_**,**" Ryuu sneered, a ripple going through Conan's little body as it transformed into the black dragon, flinging Rachel aside.

"Rachel!" Kazuha screamed, running to support her friend.

"You ain't goin' anywhere!" Harley yelled, blocking the door. On the basis that more people seemed to be using it, Kaito blocked the window, and Hakuba, ever the gentleman, stood protectively in front of the girls who could probably break his arm like a twig.

"**You can't kill them, Ryuu,**" Sitl said. "**Not yet. Now get out of that boy's body.**"

"**Not a chance,**" Ryuu snarled.

"**Dammit, you idiot!**" Sitl burst out. "**You **_**can't**_** do this to him! He's the scion!**"

Everyone stared at the little demon. "The what now?"

Seeing his opportunity, Ryuu knocked Kaito aside and dove out of the window.

* * *

_ Okay, so maybe it's a little short again, Pretz-chan, but I figure you oughta do some writing too at some point! XD I can't write as long chapters for this as I can for WPBIO, probably because I'm using about eight character instead of forty. :P_

_Sad person that I am, I've read a translation of the Malleus Maleficarum. It mostly detailed ways to locate witches, which basically boiled down to being elaborate versions of standing in the middle of the village and hysterically screaming "WIIIIIIIIIIITCH!" While pointing accusingly at any passing female. Unless you lived in a country with an Inquisition. That was not fun._

_**Pretz: **__What's a scion? O_o You really should explain these things to me, Chiyu-chan…not to mention you got me all embarrassed reading the last few lines. '~' Do you have to make Ryuu knock out Conan in that sort of way!?!!?!?!? Nonetheless I was veryyyy excited for this chapter~ I loooooves it~ Poor Conan thinking' he's a killer. You know, he doesn't have to get knocked out EVERY time. I'll just have him wake up in the middle then~ TEE HEE HEE._

_I'm editing this chapter~ I had a hard time figuring out whether it was Kaito or Kid..._ WHY ARE THEY BOTH REFERRED TO AS KAITO?! You should really make that more clear! I have to edit the more recent chapters as well! *pouts*_


	12. Tokyo Massacre

Shadows in the Light

* * *

_I already told you we don't own DC!!! *sobbing* Mi-Mi-MIKURU BEAM!!! *shiny contacts FTW*_

_I'MA FIRIN' MAH FAN FICTION! *BAAAAAH*_

* * *

**Tokyo Massacre**

"Okay, I was fine with him pushing Kaito, but he didn't have ta make Conan knock himself out! I mean, wouldn't that look embarrassing to him!?" Harley raged on as he and the others were chasing Ryuu.

"**I doubt Pretz was happy with it either."** Sitl agreed.

Ignoring Sitl, the Kansai dialect-speaking detective looked at his charm. It was still stained with blood. _Conan's_ blood.

"Great. You've got Kudo's fingerprints _and_ Conan's blood on it." Kazuha remarked flatly. "Aren't ya gonna wash it off?"

Harley didn't respond.

"**Whatever. That bastard's gonna pay for putting Conan through this!"** Sitl growled harshly. **"Let's just hope we can stop him before he gets to one of you…"**

"What do you mean by that!?" Rachel didn't like the sound of that.

"I get what he's saying." Hakuba replied for Sitl. "Ryuu's eventually going to go for one of us to keep us from getting in his way. It's most likely that he's going to get the one who interfered with him the most."

Everyone looked at Harley.

"I'm not letting him—" He began, but then remembered. If he hurt Ryuu, he'd hurt Conan as well.

"Hey hey," Kaito didn't like that hesitation. "You're not going to let him kill you just because you're afraid of hurting Conan, are you?!"

Again, Harley didn't respond. He was surprisingly good at that, considering he usually spoke a lot.

"Anyways, how are we going to stop the flying lizard?" Hakuba would rather worry about that than about Harley.

"He's probably going to expect us to sneak up on him again after last time." Kaito commented.

"Then we'll just have to attack from the front!"

"Wait a second Harley. Is it really a good idea to just rush in?" Rachel wondered.

"Right. We should just think this out." Hakuba nodded his head.

"Like we have time for that!" The dark-skinned detective snapped, startling most of the group. "Ku—the kid is out there being used by Ryuu! He's gonna get worse if that thing kills anymore people!!"

"Okay kids," Kaito said quite sarcastically, saying the only thing he could think of, "let's just settle down and talk this through." It was worth a shot. Failed, but worth a shot.

"Screw this, I'm going!" Harley lost his patience and ran down the alley, disappearing.

"Crap."

Silence again.

"Now what?" Both of these were spoken by Kaito. (At this point the author was not sure whether he was Kid or regular Kaito, so she had to edit this chapter.)

***

_Don't worry Kudo! I'm going to stop that bastard no matter what!_ Harley gripped his blood-stained charm and pressed on. _Now I'm pretty sure that he went this way…_

Most of the streets were empty due to the fact there was a giant lizard running rampage around the city. _It's like Godzilla all over again!_ He sweat-dropped at that. Godzilla was female. Ryuu wasn't.

_Problem is, how am I gonna stop him? _The Osakan teen pondered upon this as he kept running. He was very determined to save Conan.

Conan was a very calm and collected person. Maybe a little _too_ calm even. Not to mention serious. The kid hardly ever showed any real emotions. He would only show happiness when it came to things he liked, such as soccer. But the last time that happened, he ended up being let down _big time_. It was then Harley realized just why Conan hardly showed his emotions. Whenever he _did_ show his emotions, he was usually excited. And not always in the good way either. When Harley had seen it for the first time, he was _angry_. So angry he had gone to prove something was wrong only to find that it was, in fact, the truth. Harley couldn't imagine the sheer disappointment Conan felt then.

He paused.

_Why am I thinking about this in the first place? All I want is for Kudo not to freak out! Was that too much to ask for!?_

Apparently it was.

"**Yo."** That voice was all too familiar to Harley.

"Ryuu." He hissed.

"**Bingo."** The shadow dragon landed on the ground. **"You do know why I'm appearing before you, right?"**

"So that I can kick your ass?"

"**Actually, it's the other way around. Nice try though."** Ryuu smiled. **"You can't touch me without hurting your friend."**

_That's true…what can I do?_ Harley wondered about this. _Maybe I should try attacking in a different spot that won't hurt him as much?_

"**Whatever you're planning is useless, Harley."** Ryuu sneered. **"I'm immortal. Even if you hurt me, I won't die. The same can't be said for your friend, however."**

"Do you even realize what you're putting him through!?" The Kansai detective snapped. "He blames himself more than he blames you!"

Ryuu shook his head. **"I'd like to see that actually happen."**

"It's true." Harley's eyes were stern, probably not the best time to mess with him.

"**How would you know?"**

"You don't understand detectives much, do you?"

"**Not at all. But that doesn't matter. You're in the way. If I take you out, it'll be easier on me."**

"I thought you said I wasn't supposed to die until I was an old man?"

"**I suppose we could compromise with 60 years early."**

"Aren't you the nice guy?" Then he smiled. "If you attack me, Kudo might be less willing to cooperate."

"**Or he might just blame it on himself, if what you said was true, and make it easier for me!"**

"That's it!" Harley lost his patience. He grabbed his charm. "You're going down, bastard!" He was about to lunge at Ryuu until he remembered.

_If I attack him, Kudo will be hurt as well…but if I don't attack, _I'll_ be hurt, or killed. If I get hurt, it may have an impact on Kudo. Whatever I do, it'll have a bad effect._ He made his decision. _I'm sorry, Kudo._

Ryuu and Harley clashed. The winner…

***

Kazuha gasped. Rachel looked at her with curiosity.

"What is it?"

"It feels like something just happened to Harley…" The tone in her friend's voice was filled with concern.

"In that case, we should hurry." Kaito began to move faster.

"That is, if Ryuu hasn't already gotten to him." Hakuba's voice was cold, but there was a hint of worry in it.

Of course, by then Rachel and Kazuha(and Sitl) were long gone.

"So…wanna catch up with them?" Kaito asked awkwardly.

"Sure…" Hakuba sweat-dropped.

A scream resounded pretty quickly. Actually, three screams. One from Kazuha, one from Rachel, and one from, very surprisingly, Conan.

Conan slammed his fists against the ground nearby Harley's body. He wasn't dead, but he was pretty badly hurt. Conan's hands were covered with his blood. "Why!?" He couldn't take it any longer. Tears were streaming out of his eyes.

And the clock struck midnight.

* * *

_Well, this sucks. I just made Conan cry. And I severely injured Harley. Well, at least he didn't die…You know, Sitl hardly got any say in this chapter. :P_

_I GOT VOLUME 30 AND IT ROCKS!!! :D_

_I've already planned an ending for this fic, and I have to say, I'm pretty proud of it. Also, I was planning some stuff for the next chapter, and I felt tears coming to my eyes! I can't believe my own plots, while just THINKING about them, would make me almost cry! O_o_

_Next chapter is full of angst. AND I'M WRITING IT TO MAKE UP FOR THE FACT THAT THIS CHAPTER IS SHORT._

_I FINALLY figured out that Kaito was being a "normal" highschooler when Chiyu-chan wrote the last chapter... So I have to edit this chapter and the next._


	13. Memories

Shadows in the Light

* * *

_Ask if we own this one more time, and the CD-i Ganondorf will come and kill you._

_Why am I making all these lame internet references? Or are they memes? O_o_

* * *

**Memories**

Anita decided to check up on Conan for once. After all, she hadn't seen him in a few days. But as she approached the door…

"Conan doesn't want to see anyone right now." It was Rachel. Her eyes were full of worry and pain. Kazuha was standing near another room, most likely Harley's.

"She's here…so where's her detective friend?" Anita wondered. If Kazuha was here, shouldn't Harley be as well?

Both teens flinched at her question. They obviously didn't want to remember something that they just did, making the smallest of the three girls raise an eyebrow.

"Harley was attacked…by Ryuu." Kazuha managed to say.

"Ryuu?"

"That demon that attacked Conan." Rachel explained.

"But how would you know this?" Anita pressed. She had the feeling it would explain why Conan didn't want to see anyone at the moment.

Rachel sighed. "It's a long story…"

***

Conan sat in the bed, stunned. _How could I do that to Harley!?_ It wasn't really him who attacked Harley, but having a strong sense of justice, if it was using his body, he was the murderer. Of course, he probably wouldn't think the same thing if it was Rachel and not himself.

The main point was that Harley was hospitalized because Conan couldn't stop Ryuu. Normally, all blame would be put on Ryuu for that. But Conan chose to blame himself, as he did for most suicides that he could have prevented. (*coughSeijicough*)

His eyes were emotionless, much to Ryuu's surprise. The guy usually had _some_ sort of emotion going on in his eyes, but there was none now. _**From what I've observed in his memories,**_ Ryuu thought, _**he contained his emotions inside for so long, never truly happy, never truly sad. The few times he showed emotion were with Rachel, something he loved, and that Syndicate. Hmm…that Osaka brat had witnessed the true anger of this kid, and some sorrow was shown when that Akemi girl died and during the same case with the Osaka brat, oh and that other girl from the Syndicate. He was really afraid when she pulled that joke on him. And not to mention he was rather pissed at the fact the old professor guy was letting her stay with him.**_ He had never really seen Anita, though that was who he was referring to. _**You'd think that he would've snapped a long time ago with all that he's been through! And I haven't detected much blame towards me for the Osaka brat's (that's his official nickname for Harley) injuries. They're more towards…himself. He was right then…**_ Ryuu recalled what Harley had said to him.

"_He blames himself more than he does you!"_

_**And he was going all out to protect him from me…just like I did…no. I can't think about that!**_ The demon felt despair, fear, and hatred when he remembered what happened 10,000 years ago. _**I would've killed those guys a long time ago if it were possible. I can't believe this kid and I have the same enemy.**_

***

_Well, this sounds farfetched enough. But then again, people shrinking is just about the same._ Anita thought after hearing the rather long story of Ryuu.

"And…Conan blames himself?"

Rachel nodded. "Or at least more than he blames Ryuu."

Anita walked back to the door and opened it.

"Hey! Conan doesn't…" She paused when the girl quickly shut the door again with a startled look in her eyes.

"He looks terrible…" It was worse than she thought. Anita thought that it was just some silly reason to blame himself, but seeing the boy so pale and his eyes so blank sent a chill down her spine. She nearly screamed when Sitl popped up in front of her face.

"**Hello!!"** But the tiny demon stopped when he observed Anita more. He looked like he just remembered something. _**This girl…**_ He decided to forget about whatever it was and continued on.

"**I'm Sitl! A demon that's a whole lot friendlier than Ryuu!"** He reached into the bag that was still strapped around his body and took out what looked like an ID card. If you're wondering how Sitl was able to do so, there's a talon on each of his wings that curves like a hook. **"Here!"** He handed the card to Anita.

"Sitl: Death's second favorite demon." Anita forgot about Conan and sweat-dropped when she saw the card.

"I didn't know you had an ID card!" Rachel and Kazuha (who was still standing outside of Harley's room) both stared.

"**Now you do!"** Sitl was rather cheerful considering the events that had happened.

"Is Death like a Shinigami?" The shrunken ex-Syndicate member asked. She was curious about what Hell would be like. (she assumed she would go there, being the pessimistic person that she is.)

"**He **_**is**_** the Shinigami, if that's what you want to call him. But he's currently on vacation. Probably in Jamaica right now. I hope he brings some souvenirs!"**

"He has vacations?"

"I thought he was in Hawaii!" Rachel was now confused, and Anita just got a picture of the Grim Reaper wearing a flower necklace and a grass skirt stuck in her mind. She shuddered.

"**He's on a cruise."**

"And no one notices?" Kazuha had meant to ask this.

"**Yeah yeah, most people would think that a guy in a black cloak holding a scythe would be noticeable. However, he doesn't show himself to anyone, like a ghost."**

"Then why does he need to take a cruise to go on vacation? Can't he just warp anywhere?" Harley's girlfriend (*gets bashed*) asked. It seemed rather pointless for the guy who takes people's souls away.

"**Because he feels like it."**

"Oh…" All three girls had blank looks on their faces.

"**And if you're wondering why he took a vacation in the first place, it's because he wanted a break. He's been taking souls since Earth was created! And he started with Hawaii because the entrance to Hell is in Los Angeles. Hawaii was close enough."** No one knows why Sitl added that information.

The three girls held the blank looks, as Los Angeles was a pretty random place for Hell to be located.

Sitl moved towards the door to Conan's room. **"I think I'll check up on Conan. He looks rather lonely. Seems like Ryuu isn't talking to him."**

The only humans in the hall just stared at where the hyperactive demon once was.

Once inside the room, Sitl greeted Conan. **"Heya Conan! How are you? Wait, that was a stupid question. Of course you're not doing okay. That's why I came in here."** It appeared that Sitl loved talking, but that was rather obvious since the first time he appeared.

Conan didn't budge.

"**You know…that girl who was standing outside your room was rather interesting. There was something about her…"**

This caught Conan's attention. "Are…you talking about Anita…?" his voice was rather soft. Anita had just opened the door a few minutes ago only to close it again.

"**Yeah. She looked just like this sweet little girl Ryuu knew."**

Conan's eyes flickered red, showing that Ryuu had obviously reacted.

"**You wanna hear the story? Well, it was about 10,000 years ago when—"**

"**That's enough!"** Ryuu growled. Conan's eyes were entirely red now, showing that Ryuu was in control. The sudden reaction from the demon startled the real owner of the body.

"**What? I think he has the right to know…"**

"**I said that's **_**enough**_**!!" **Ryuu transformed into the familiar shadow dragon, slamming Sitl with his tail while knocking down the door and smashing the poor dragon-bird into the wall outside the room in the process.

It was a good thing Anita wasn't standing near the door at that time. She, Rachel, and Kazuha—and Kaito and Hakuba, who burst out of Harley's room at the instant they heard the noise—ran straight to the entrance of Conan's room to see Ryuu burning with rage.

"**We're **_**not**_** going to talk about what happened then, you hear me!?"**

Sitl shrank back, nodding his head slightly. The teens looked rather frightened now, even Anita and the boys (though not as badly). Inside his mind, Conan was shocked. Ryuu didn't seem like the kind to care about humans. Who was the little girl that Ryuu refused to talk about? Was it a bad memory?

With that, Ryuu returned Conan to his regular state and hopped back into the bed before giving Conan back his body. Of course, Conan looked stunned. While what happened yesterday put Conan in a total wreck, nothing could quite compare to what had just happened.

"That _was_ Ryuu, right?" Rachel would've been rather shocked if it was Conan.

"Yeah. Sitl was about to tell me something when Ryuu reacted." Conan was sounding a bit better. Perhaps it was the curiosity that was running in his mind that did it.

"Well now we can be sure that whatever Sitl was trying to tell you had something to do with Ryuu." Hakuba said, "So why don't we just have Sitl say what he was going to say without Ryuu finding out?"

"**Problem."** Sitl finally recovered. **"Ryuu can read Conan's mind like a book. Literally. He can look at his memories, and he'll definitely find out if anyone knows the story."**

The response from Conan was not what the group had hoped for. "I'd rather not get sent to Hell early..." This statement shocked everyone. Had he given up? Or was he just afraid?

Anita had other things on her mind. _Why would Sitl remember something like that after seeing me?_ She assumed that's when he remembered. After all, he did look like he remembered something after seeing her._ Just how much did this girl look like me anyways?_

* * *

_*huffs* That was rather easy! :D Hooray for character development!! Well, not yet at least. It's amazing how fast Conan recovered after seeing Ryuu snap like that. O_o Poor Sitl…and poor me! I got bashed by Kazuha after titling her as "Harley's girlfriend"! T_T *has a big lump on her head*_

_I've gotten some demands for updates on Black Cat Conan and I'll Always be There for You. Actually, I only got two for BCC and one for IATY. :P I'm working on BCC after I finish this chapter, so don't worry! I'm about halfway through the third chapter. (yes I've had some writer's block.)_

_You know what sucks? SatoxTakagi is the only official pairing in DC! D: I mean, they already kissed. It's obvious they love each other, right? :D HeijixKazuha could be an official pairing if they'd just confess…yet for Conan/Shinichi, there are two possible pairings! ShinRan(yaaay) and ConanAi(booo!!)!! WHYYY!?!? Conan and Ran deserve to be together!!! Besides, MitsuhikoxAi is rather cute~ If ShinRan does win out, that pairing would be perfect~ I mean, Ai doesn't really have anything to go back to, does she? :/ Don't bash me, you ConanAi fans…I'm just pointing out my opinions. Wait…why am I talking about this right here?! O_o_

_If you think this chapter makes up for the suckishly short chapter before this one, say so! :D Also, please leave a review! I'll love you if you do~ I love my reviewers(and my fans)!! Aiko_Sha-chan(My nickname for DaGras, meaning "fan"), BCC numbah 3 is on it's way!! Don't worry! :D_

_I'm writing this next chapter since Chiyu-chan obviously isn't...I have to edit all these chapters now! What about the reviews?! HOW AM I GOING TO DO THIS?! D:_

_*is now having a hard time telling whether Kaito is appearing as Kid or as himself*_


	14. Auld Lang Syne

_Do you honestly think we own Detective Conan or Magic Kaito? I mean, seriously. This is FANfiction dot net._

**Auld Lang Syne**

"Harley! Yer up!" Kazuha squealed happily.

"Did ya get the licence number?" Harley muttered dazedly. "Wait… what happened?"

"Ryuu… attacked ya," Kazuha said tremulously. "We thought fer a bit… but yer gonna be okay, they think."

Harley winced as he shifted, his abdomen twinging. "So what happened ta…?"

"Seems Ryuu stopped right after that," Hakuba explained, walking in, "Conan was there instead…"

"The kid's in a really bad way, he totally blames himself," Kazuha said sadly.

"That's just stupid," Harley said, shocked. "I mean, it ain't like he controls Ryuu…"

"**He'll have to work on just that, though,**" Sitl said, popping up out of nowhere as was his custom. Kazuha and Hakuba glared at him as Harley's heart monitor beeped frantically for a moment. "**Sorry, sorry! But, well, it **_**is**_** his body. If anyone can control Ryuu… he'll have to, if he doesn't want to go to Hell… Wallowing in despair will only make Ryuu stronger, I'm afraid.**"

"Should I make him a charm?" Kazuha asked. "Would that help?"

"HELL NO," Hakuba and Harley said in unison, before glaring at each other.

"**Now, if he could push **_**Ryuu**_** into despair…**" Sitl said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, but what'd upset a shadowy dragon demon thing?" Harley asked succinctly.

"Your eloquence never fails to astound me," Hakuba said dryly.

"What about… that story ya were about ta tell?" Kazuha asked tentatively.

"The story about the girl that looks like Anita?" Rachel asked. "Harley, you're up!"

"Live an' kickin'," Harley said. "What story? Anita?"

"Sitl was about to tell us about a girl that looked like Anita a long time ago," Rachel explained. "But Ryuu stopped him. He seemed really angry…"

"Well, he ain't here now, is he?" Harley snorted.

"**Yeah, but he's right,**" Sitl said, a little nervously. "**It's not really my right to… I mean, really, it happened a long time ago and… It's kind of pitiful, really…**"

"More pitiful than an innocent kid bein' pushed into depression an' then thrust inta the bowels of Hell?" Kazuha asked pointedly.

"We won't tell him that you told us," Rachel said soothingly.

"**Yeah, but who **_**else**_** could have told you?**" Sitl pointed out.

"We could just say we summoned another demon and it told us," Hakuba suggested. Everyone stared at him. "Don't ask. I just know someone I can ask for details. Really don't ask."

"Whatever," Harley said, glaring suspiciously at the blond detective. "So are ya gonna tell us the story or what?"

"**Well…**" Sitl said, glancing around. He disappeared in a little puff of fire, then reappeared a second later. "**He's asleep… both of them are, I think. So I guess…**" he glanced towards the door, which Rachel shut. "**Just between us… I guess I can tell you the story.**"

Conan sighed in relief when Anita left. Ryuu's little huff was giving him a pounding headache. He closed his eyes, sinking back into the pillows. He was _exhausted_. He didn't really want to fall asleep or relax his control, in case Ryuu attacked someone else… but somehow, he felt that Ryuu didn't feel like fulfilling his "duties" tonight.

"_**Damn straight,**_" Ryuu thought back to him, sounding like he was in a foul mood. Conan could feel himself drifting away…

A moment later, he was sitting in what seemed to be an old-fashioned English sitting room. Books with English titles filled the bookshelves around the walls. For some reason, there was only one slipper by the fireplace. A tall man in a black suit with slicked-back black hair was wandering around the room. He turned to look at Conan, and his face was pale, his eyes red like smouldering coals.

"**Only your subconscious,**" he declared, "**Would take the form of 221 Baker Street.**" He cocked his head to the side a little, as a fleeting image of Hakuba wearing his deerstalker cap and Inverness cape appeared in the mirror above the mantle. "**All right. His probably does too. This is what sucks about being in your mind. That, and the stupid clothes.**" Conan looked down at himself and realized that he was wearing an outfit similar to that in the image of Hakuba. He also realized that he was full-size.

"_But if _I'm_ Holmes and _he's _Watson,_" he thought, "_Does that mean I have the upper hand…?_"

"**For now, and only because I'm in a bad mood,**" Ryuu growled, and Conan remembered that, being inside his mind, Ryuu could read his thoughts. "**I've had to wear that stupid outfit too. Damn it…**" he was flickering through the books on the shelves. Titles notwithstanding, they all seemed to be photo albums, each page with a single moving picture- memories, page after page. Conan stood, relishing the higher perspective, and looked over Ryuu's shoulder- which was difficult, because the shinigami, even forced into human form, was very tall- at the pictures. Every one was of Anita, mostly pictures of her scaring the living crap out of him.

"She does that a lot," he said, indicating the terrifying hospital visit where Anita had brought a gun loaded with a flower bouquet. Ryuu glared at him, but Conan could see the images in his mind too, just as Ryuu could see the ones in his- and he saw Anita, in some kind of odd old tribal dress…

"You knew her a long time ago, didn't you?" Conan asked. Ryuu grimaced, and Conan lost the thread of his thoughts. Well, Ryuu was in _his_ mind, not vice-versa… but nevertheless, it was _his_ mind, and damned if he was going to let his unwanted lodger lie to him…

"**Oh, thank you,**" Ryuu said sarcastically at the "unwanted lodger" commented. "**I am **_**possessing**_** you, not renting a bijou flat in your prefrontal lobe…**"

"Whatever," Conan said. "Are you going to tell me the story or not? I mean, frankly, if you're planning to toss me into Hell anyway, you've got nothing to lose by telling me the story… which I intend to hear sooner or later, no matter what. Does it have to do with why we have "the same enemy"?"

Ryuu flinched. "**Damn, you **_**are**_** regaining control if you heard that…**"

"I'm not letting you hurt any more of my friends," Conan said sternly, sitting back down and tenting his fingers under his chin. "So?"

"… **fine,**" Ryuu sighed. "**But give me a bit of control, if you want the story I need to show you… images will explain more than words.**" Conan nodded, relaxing a little mentally. In an instant, the sitting room had vanished, and Conan, to his discontent, was small again, and wearing his hospital pyjamas. Ryuu had resumed the form of the towering dragon, and Conan was suddenly sitting on his back, just in front of the wing joints. A minute later, they were soaring over an ancient landscape…

Conan gasped in shock at what lay beneath them.

* * *

_Sorry it's so short!_

_Auld Lang Syne (yes, as in the song) means "A long time ago" or "Days Long Gone"._

_**Pretztailfan95:** Don't ask me about the Holmes/Watson Kudo/Hakuba thing. That was Chiyu-chan's idea, go bug her. I had to change the part about what happened because none of what Hakuba said really happened. :P I'm gonna write the next chapter, by the way._

_Yes! I'm ALIVE!!! I'm just sobbing in a little corner because I made a new fic. My worst mistake was making it a crossover. First of all, HOW CAN ANYONE JUST FIND MY FIC WITHOUT ACTUALLY LOOKING FOR IT?! Seriously, people only go there when they want to find something. Second, WHY DID I MAKE IT WITH THE **TOUHOU PROJECT**?! How many DC fans actually know what the Touhou Project is, or vice-versa? Besides Baka-chan and some others, I dunno! _

_This is pathetic, plugging one of my own fics in a fic that isn't even that fic! Another failure for the record. *writes it down* Anyways, if you're interested, the title is "Encounter: The Judgement of Kudou Shinichi". YES, IT'S USING THE JAPANESE NAMES! :D It's in the crossovers, click on **Touhou Project** to find it. I've yet to get a review..if you review, you get a cookie. -shot- No seriously, I'd appreciate it. Reviews are like money; they make the world go round._


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